FEAR: Bloodline
by StarscreamRox's
Summary: As if ATC hadn't gone far enough, they decided to experiment even more with Alma's DNA. What they created may very well be the one thing to destroy them all...COMPLETE! *Under Revision*
1. Welcome to the Family

AN: This is only an update. As I mentioned on my profile, I intend to "clean up" some of FEAR: Bloodlines as I started writing it in high school and going back over some of it now, well, let's just say I think it needs a bit of polish lol. But never fear, most of the story will remain unchanged for the most part, however a few things are bound to change as is the process I suppose.

And for all of you who are anxiously awaiting the sequel, I do apologize for its delay, however, I'm going to refrain from writing it until I've had a chance to beat FEAR 3, which sadly doesn't release till late May in my country. Very sorry for the wait, but they seem to have changed a few things and I would like to know what exactly before I continue on. Again, so sorry for the delay and the utter silence. College kind of took over there for a bit. I hope you enjoy the "updated" hopefully "improved" version of FEAR: Bloodlines. Also, I would love input on whether yall would like for the sequel to be in 1st or 3rd person. I can't seem to make up my mind which would be more fitting. Any thoughts? I'd love to hear them!

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Darkness surrounded me...consumed me...Not even a single ray of light could penetrate my iron cell... The air was cold and still... My breath rose in small clouds of steam...It was quiet...too quiet... What had become of my wardens I wondered? I had not seen or heard of them in some time... Had the prison keepers disguised in lab coats finally died?

No...I was not so lucky...

I laid on the floor, unable to move from the pain. My body was weak, weak from the experiments, the radiation, the lack of food and water... The day of the scientists' sudden absence my body had gone into withdrawals. Only now, three days later, was it beginning to subside.

A sound rang out from beyond the door. Did I hear footsteps? I tried to raise up. The bandages covering my body tugged at my wounds, casing it body to howl in protest. They were old and desperately needed changing, but, without the researchers, that was unlikely to happen.

I lied back down on the floor, my body having chosen not to comply.

I cursed the scientists for destroying my body. It was because of them that my flesh now rotted off my bones. They injected me with thousands upon thousands of drugs. My body was now a slave to such poison, unable to perform even the basic of functions without them, despite its inability to withstand them.

Through force of will I finally managed to sit up only to realize that the footsteps had stopped. Whoever had been there was either gone or no longer walking towards my cell. Like it mattered. None here would set me free. If I was no longer useful then I would be left to die here, in this cell, alone...It was as simple as that...

I looked around my small, claustrophobia inducing prison. Though my vision was limited, due to a missing eye after a radiation overdose, I could still see the red emergency light flashing. The alarm had stopped two days ago but the light still flashed on and off at regular intervals. I wonder what had happened...Why had the light not stopped flashing?

Suddenly I felt the air grow cold around me. Footsteps echoed in the hallway behind me once again. I then heard a sound I had not heard in some time...

I heard latches turning—the all too familiar sound of the great iron door to my cell creaked open. A brief moment of hope rose up within me only to be quickly strangled with dread.

Was it the scientists? Returned from whatever chaos to do more _tests_? Had the danger been quelled for the torture to resume?

No...not again... I did not want to go back to that _place_...

I tried to stand, to resist, to run, I'm not sure which... My legs were weak. They caved beneath my weight and I once again found myself staring up at the ceiling, wondering what would become of me.

The footsteps drew near...so very close...

I cursed my body. Why could it not run? Not hide? Why must it let them do this to me?

I closed my eyes, dreading what awaited me. I tired to will it away but it would not budge, would not move... It stood strong, unmoving, waiting patiently for me to cease my trivial efforts.

Finally I submitted, no longer willing to fight. What was the point? My fate had been sealed from my birth...

The footsteps stopped as a large shadow loomed over me while I laid on the floor. My "guest" was male. I could tell by the sound that his shoes made when they hit the cold tile of my cell. He did not smell of the overtly strong aftershave as most of those who came to fetch me did.

However odd, I did not give him the satisfaction of eye contact. As though it would matter…I found that all of my wardens looked the same, hiding behind their surgical masks from my disease—the very disease that they had given me.

I silently hope I had infected every bloody one of them...

Hatred raged within me as I thought of their faces. I despised them, loathed them. I cursed them for what they had done to me. What I wouldn't give for a chance to kill even one of them. I'd give _anything_.

"Anything?" I heard a chilled voice echo, breaking the silence that filled the room.

I flinched. What was this? How had he known? Was my mind not my own any longer as well? Had the wretches taken that too?

In my rage, I lunged at him, using what little strength my body could muster. It wasn't hard for him to stop me. He grabbed both my arms with ease and stopped my assault before it began.

I attempted to struggle with him but, in my current state, I was no match. I quickly yielded but yet, I still felt something very strange about him, something familiar.

Upon a closer inspection I realized he was not dressed like a scientist or any of the medical researchers. He did not wear an ID badge and his clothes seemed more common place. In place of a lab coat he wore a leather jacket that resembled a general's uniform. But it was his eyes, it was his eyes that truly gave him away. I could see the rage hidden behind those blue orbs. I could see the fire blazing behind them, raging their own private war.

I looked at his face, thin with mistreatment. Though he had fared better than I, I could still see his scars, still taste his hate. It was so potent so…volatile…So very much like my own.

Who was this dark haired man I wondered? Why was he here? More importantly, how did he get here? Was he the source of the alarm? Or something else?

"You're brimming with questions," he said as a slight smile danced across his face.

I wasn't fooled. There was nothing innocent about his smile. I saw something menacing hiding just behind his eyes, something deadly, but I found that I wasn't afraid.

I was intrigued.

"Why are you here?" I managed to ask in a weak and raspy voice.

"I'm here to set you free," he said with a smile that would have chilled another to the bone, but not one such as I. This man was quite possibly my way out of this hell, my rescuer. At that moment, to me, he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen _if _his words were true. And yet, I couldn't help but fine myself wondering…

Why?

"Why?" laughed the man, "because my mother's blood courses through your veins. You may not have been born as we were, but you are still one of us, and she longs for you to be free. Don't you want revenge for what they've done to you? To her?"

I knew little of the words he spoke of, even less of my "mother" as he said. I'd never really been aware that I even had one…Then again; there was much I was not aware of. But I did know one thing. I wanted revenge, revenge for all they had done. And I wanted out, I didn't care how and I didn't care why, but that's what I wanted.

"And so it shall be" said the man with a smile as he released me gently. "Come with me," he said. "Come and help me free our mother." And with those words he extended his hand.

I looked at it for a moment, overwhelmed by the suddenness of his appearance, of my rescue. Something dark and foreboding lurked in the room, I could feel it. No good would come of either decision, only death. But, at this point…

I didn't care.

I took his hand and my mind was immediately flooded with images both strange and horrific. A little girl in red surrounded in darkness…She was crying, all alone…Though I knew her not, her tears broke my heart...and enraged me.

Someone would pay for her tears and they would pay in blood.

In a flash, the visions were gone and I was once again back to reality, back in my cell and yet…my thoughts still drifted back to the girl…

"And now you see," the enigmatic man said, "why they all deserve to die."

"Yes…" I said with a nod. "Yes I do…now, more than ever…"

The enigmatic man smiled a tainted grin. "Good," he said as he slowly helped me to my feet. "Come with me, Abeo, come with me to free her."

At the sound of my name I looked up. I found it odd as to how he knew it. To the scientists, I was simply AR-1. I was never formally given a name and yet, I knew it was Abeo. I had always known. I couldn't explain why, that's just how it was. Since I was just a boy, I had always know that that name, Abeo…it was mine…mine and mine alone.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"How do I know your name?" he laughed. "Because she told it to me…your mother…_our_ mother."

I stared at him for a long, long time trying to make sense of it all.

"What's wrong, brother?" I heard him ask.

"It's just…I…I still don't understand…" I confessed. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and looked up to see that the man's facial features had softened.

"I know this all seems alien to you," he said quietly, "but you will come to understand, in time…"

I smiled. Part of me knew he was lying, knew that he knew as little as I, but part of me didn't care. He offered freedom, a chance to belong to something of my choosing. Even if his words turned out to be empty promises, they were better than nothing, better than my current state.

So I chose to believe him.

I murmured the man's name. "Paxton Fettel…can I truly be your brother? I was not born from your mother…In truth…I was never really _born_ at all…not in the way most perceive birth…"

I saw Paxton shake his head. "You were born of her flesh, Abeo..." he said. "Isn't that enough, when you have nothing?"

I thought for a moment. "…Yes…" I said quietly. "Yes, I suppose it is, isn't?"

Paxton smiled and placed his arm around my shoulders as he led me out of my cell. "Come, Abeo," he said kindly. "It's time you met your family."

Yes…It was time I met them…It was time for us to be together…One way…Or another…


	2. The Estranged Son

(ATTENTION: THIS IS ONLY AN UPDATE. I'm polishing the story to clean it up before I really get started on the sequel.)

At last chapter two! I would like to personally thank morbid ninja, Alexia Krycek, kavinps, and the anon. reader for their comments! They were much needed and played a VERY essential roll in the development for chapter two. Without your comments everyone would be reading a much different version (and a much worse version I feel) of chapter two which is why all comments and criticism are needed and very much appreciated! I do hope that you enjoy and I thank you once again for your patients!

Also, future not, sentences in italics means that the speaker is not physically present.

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The air in the outer complex was no warmer than it had been in my cell. I found it to be cold and chilling, just like everything else in this facility…Something about it, however, was off. I couldn't say what, but I could sense it…So still…I've never heard such silence…It was deafening and yet…relieving.

I liked it.

Paxton thought it best for me to change my bandages and find more clothes than the pathetic white scrub pants I had been given. I agreed. We might be exceptional humans, but we were still just that, human…mortal…We could bleed, feel pain and cold, hunger….It all still worked the same…all of it…

My body was still too weak to allow me to venture out on my own so Paxton lent me aid. He helped carry me to the med bay. Though it was locked—a pathetic attempt by a surviving scientist—we still gained access. Locked doors do not pose a problem for my brother.

A brief moment of darkness and then I suddenly found that we were on the other side of the door. Fascinating! I wondered if I could learn as well. Paxton laughed. "Once you are strong again," he said, "I will teach you." I hoped that he would. I wanted to learn what all this body of mine was capable of, wanted to learn all that I could about myself, the traits given to me by our mother, everything. I wanted to know everything.

Or, at least…I thought I did…

Paxton helped me to a chair and then began the search for the bandages. It didn't take him long to find them. The two of us then began unwrapping and rewrapping my wounds. It was quick work between the two of us. I noticed Paxton slowing though as he began to realize the extent of my injuries. It upset him, deeply… His facial expressions were slightly obscure, but I could still tell…I saw his expression change from sadness, to empathy, and then to stone and ice.

I didn't have to read his thoughts to know what he was thinking. He was thinking of the scientists that did this to me…to us…and he was thinking of what he was going to do to them once he finally found them…And find them he would…I'd make sure of that.

The thought of someone fighting on my behalf, to avenge me…It-it made me feel…complete, protected…It made me feel…loved…I…liked that feeling… I liked it so much that I felt I would do anything to protect the source of such a feeling.

Anything…

I finished my half of the redressing. Paxton finished shortly after that. I knew he sensed my worry but he wouldn't divulge his thoughts. He smiled faintly and patted me on the shoulder. "In time, brother," he said quietly. "In time…"

I gazed at him, trying to read his thoughts, to understand what he was thinking. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know when I would understand but, at the same time, I felt content. I felt nothing less than complete trust and love for Paxton—even in such a short amount of time. He had set me free, given me a new life. I would follow him anywhere, even into the fire, I would follow.

Something about my gaze upset him. He broke eye contact and looked away, off into the distance. I was concerned, fearful that I had angered him in some way. He only laughed quietly. "No, brother," he said almost solemnly, "I am not angry…only…" He sighed a long, deep sigh and glanced back at me. Something in my gaze…unnerved him but…why?

"Paxton?" I asked. "What is it, what's wrong?"

Paxton looked at me and smiled wanly. "You really don't know, do you?" he said. "Hmm…you should know…you have the right…" He placed his hand on my head and smiled. "Abeo, my brother, did you know that…you…have your mother's eyes?"

I tilted my head in curiosity. "My…mother's…eyes?" I said thoughtfully. I had had no idea, but how could I? I knew nothing of my mother, of what she looked like, what she sounded like, what she felt like…nothing….Nothing…It…the thought…it troubled me…

My brother made a motion to comfort me, to console me but was interrupted by a loud clatter that echoed from deep within the lab. We both jumped at the sound and froze, looking for the source. Whatever it was, it lied in the shadows of the lab, hiding…

I became fearful, fearful that it was something that threatened my brother, threatened his plans…Absurd, yes, but…I wasn't willing to take that chance. With a speed faster than I thought my sickly body capable, I leapt over to the darkened corners of the lab. In a rage, I hurtled a lab table only to find a quivering scientist shivering on the floor in fear. Rage burned within me. He had no right to hear, hear all that we had said! And it was in that rage that I found how little it took to crush a man's larynx. So very little…

In the blink of an eye and a howl of choked pain, he was dead. Blood spewed from his mouth as my hand gripped his throat, crushing it with ease. His blood splattered on my hands, staining my bandages red. I found it hard to let go, as if his one death wasn't enough. I wanted him to suffer more, more than what he had, but, alas, he could not…

I released the corpse and looked down on it with disgust, still angered by his presence. I doubt wiping him out of existence would have been enough for me, his death certainly wasn't. But it would have to do…

I was startled when my brother placed his hand on my shoulder. I nearly jumped. "Very good, Abeo," he said proudly as he looked down at the corpse, blood still oozing from its mouth. "You have a talent for this."

I found it hard to speak, the adrenaline still had a hold of my body and anger still gripped my thoughts. The scientist looked too familiar to me and that didn't help matters.

My brother sensed what was running through my mind. He turned my head so that I could no longer fume over the corpse. "Abeo, my brother, do not fret," he said in his soothing tone. "They_ will_ pay."

I nodded, knowing that my brother would see to it. And I would help him, I would help him do it, and then, perhaps, I could at last meet my mother….

My knees suddenly buckled and I fell into Paxton. He slowly sat me down on the floor. Apparently the adrenaline was too much for my pathetic shell of a body to take.

Paxton looked concern. He placed his hand on my forehead as one would to check for a fever. I chuckled slightly. It was apparent that he had no idea what to do, but he was trying.

"Abeo?" he asked, worry in his voice. I gently moved his hand from my forehead and pointed to the locked medicine cabinet on the wall.

"In there," I told him. "That's where they keep it."

He turned and looked at the medicine cabinet. Glancing back at me he asked, "Keep what?"

"My medicine," I said. "Anytime this happened while they were running their tests on me, they'd open up one of those medicine cabinets and pull out some type of small needle gun filled with…well…_it_…"

Paxton frowned, not liking what he heard; however, I think he knew. My body was so used to the drug; it would refuse to work without it. Whatever the case, he yielded and got up to get the syringe out. The sad little lock didn't stand a chance. Paxton merely looked at it and the lock cracked and shot across the room. I watched as the broken lock skidded across the ground. The more I watched my brother, the more anxious I became about learning how to use my talents.

Paxton found the syringe and brought it to me. "I take it this is the one?" he said, commenting on the slight greenish glow the medicine possessed.

"Yes, that would be the one," I said as I extended my hand to take it from him. My brother made an odd expression. He seemed a little reluctant to give it to me, worried of what it was I would be injecting myself with. "Don't worry, brother, I can handle it," I said reassuring him. I didn't want him to worry, but, if I was going to be able to move, to help him, I had to have that medicine, like it or not.

Reluctantly he relinquished the syringe. He looked away as I prepared to inject the medicine in my neck. I think it angered him, the thought…I think he could envision the scientists doing the same to me, forcing it to come to this…

A quake suddenly shook through the entire building. The hanging lights swayed violently from the ceiling, flashing on and off as their power supply was interrupted. The disturbance left as quickly as it came leaving behind only an eerie silence so very still…like a grave…

I looked towards the direction the quake had come and found that Paxton had done the same. Something about it had upset him…He seemed…agitated…

"I have a feeling," I said, breaking the silence, "that that was something that requires your immediate attention?"

Paxton closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes, I'm afraid so," he said with a bleak expression. He glanced back at me, worry etched in the lines of his face. "Are you going to be alright, if I leave?"

I smiled. "Of course, brother," I said reassuringly. "Do what you need to. I'll catch up once my strength has returned."

He wasn't convinced, I could tell, but he rose up to leave regardless. He placed one hand on my head and pleaded for me to be careful and stay out of sight. I promised him I would and with that he left, fading slowly into ash till he was out of sight. I smiled wanly and then returned my attention to the syringe I had yet to use.

I found it hard to inject the thing into my neck. My arm was resisting, as if it knew what I held in my hand. I had to force myself to do it. With a quick stab and a forceful pull of the trigger, the medicine entered my blood stream. It quickly surged through my veins as it made its way deep into my system. It felt like liquid fire pulsing through my body…I…didn't like it…It…brought back memories…terrible, terrible memories…

I quickly shook the thoughts from my mind and carefully rose to my feet. I could feel my strength flooding back to me. It wouldn't be long now…

I decided to look around for something a bit…warmer to wear. Then a thought occurred to me, where did I expect to _find_ clothes in this facility? I frowned at the revelation. It was then, however, that I remembered the dead scientist. I turned to look at his lifeless body. He was wearing a bloodstained lab coat. It was thick and made of cotton and bore A.T.C. in bold, black letters on the back. Though one would think that the thought of wearing the very coat of my captors would repulse me, I found that, oddly, it did not. In fact, I found it surprisingly…amusing.

I walked over to the corpse and removed the coat—the dead body not bothering me in the least. I dare say I much rather enjoyed him that way.

Having removed the lab coat, I carefully put it on and walked over to a reflective glass window. It fit, oddly enough, but I found that the sleeves aggravated my wrappings on my arms. I decided to do away with them and tore them off and used the scraps to re-wrap my forearms where fluid had leaked through the bandages.

The coat was tattered, to say the least. It had apparently been snagged on many an object while the scientist had been trying to evade whatever had chased him into this lab. His blood, along with the blood of many of his associates no doubt, stained the tails of the coat. I found it fitting for both him and me. Fool…what made him think he could out run it forever?

Satisfied, I turned to leave. My strength had returned, I felt, and I was curious as to what Paxton was up to. He seemed aggravated when he left and that troubled me. I feared something in his plans may have gone wrong.

I decided to go and look for him. Knowing that such a task would take forever though, I decided to take a slightly different approach. I tried to see if I could do as my brother had and reach out using the gifts that I possessed. As I closed my eyes I believe I saw something in…in my mind. I could see my brother, standing off in the distance. The room was dark…and…there was someone else there… …searching for something…but what?

….._This way_…

I was startled by a voice that suddenly rang out from the darkness. "Who's there?" I called out but to no avail. There was no answer. I suddenly felt strange, like I was no longer alone. I could still see Paxton as though he was right in front of me, but he couldn't be…could he? I pondered the voice's words…was it that simple?

I walked forward to where I saw Paxton and began to suddenly feel very…strange…I felt like I was drifting through darkness…a vast region of nothingness…a complete and utter void. It was like being in a trance and yet…I felt as though I was completely awake…

I opened my eyes to find myself standing in what appeared to be some form of an office building. It seemed as though it was under construction. The room was dark and cluttered with tools and sheets of glass and timber. The air was cold and deathly still and I felt as though something was lurking in the shadows.

"Who else is here?" I wondered. I knew I could sense someone hiding just beyond the darkness. The presence was so very…alien and yet it seemed…familiar…

"You've seen her, haven't you?" I heard my brother's voice echo from deep within the darkened room.

"Brother?" I called out. Where was he? And who was he talking to?

I continued to follow my brother's voice. "She is the original. I was made from her and I was born from her. We are separate but we are one." I followed my brother's voice into an open portion of the room. It was there that I found the source of the strange presence I had sensed earlier.

In the middle of the room stood a man garbed in a soldier's uniform. He held his gun raised and ready as he carefully searched through the room. Every nerve in my body began firing as if warning me to stand clear of him. Who was he? And why did I feel so…afraid of him?

I disregarded the forewarning and carefully advanced towards the soldier. I couldn't shake the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that, for some reason, I knew this man.

My heart raced as I made my advance. Every fiber of my being screamed for me to go back. Why did my instincts feel so strongly about this man? He was just a soldier, no different from any other man…Why should I be so terrified of him?

My advance was soundless. I barely disturbed the air around me. Death would have been proud. I was within feet of the man in seconds. I would soon know the identity of this masked soldier and silence the fear in my heart and the voices in my head.

Fate, however, had deemed me to know no such thing…

Though I had thought my approach undetected, it had in fact been noticed and monitored by the soldier the entire time. I walked right into it…In the blink of an eye the soldier whirled around and flailed me in the face with the stock end of his gun. I was knocked several feet back into a pile of debris.

I was dazed as I sat on the floor, sprawled out on my back. I barely heard the soldier's footsteps as he approached. I looked up to see a gun barrel and a less than enthused soldier staring down at me. He leaned down to get a closer examination of me, but such a thing worked both ways. Though I couldn't see his face because of the balaclava he wore, there was one thing I could see were his eyes.

His eyes…they were like Paxton's…exactly like Paxton's, except…they were…dead…

I heard static echo from the soldier's COM as my brother appeared behind him. With anger and malice in his voice my brother warned the soldier to stand away from me. The soldier jumped and turned to fire at my brother. I was fearful for a moment, but realized that my brother had moved from harms way long before the bullets every reached him.

The distraction worked and bought my brother enough time to grab me and dematerialize before things got out of hand. When I opened my eyes we were in what appeared to be an abandoned and ransacked lab. Nearly all the lights were off and paper and broken beakers littered the floor.

My brother did not look at me for a moment and I suddenly had the feeling I had made a horrible mistake in approaching the soldier. My brother's actions only confirmed my fears. "What were you thinking?" he hissed, his eyes ablaze with both fear and anger.

I was speechless, unsure of what to say that would not anger him further. In truth, I had not been thinking. I had only been following a blind thought. Unwilling to lie to my brother and knowing that, in doing so, his mood would not improve. I decided to tell him what I had felt. Hopefully he would understand.

"Forgive me, brother," I pleaded, "but something about him seemed so…so familiar…I became curious. I knew it wasn't wise but, I-I just couldn't ignore such a feeling."

My brother was not pleased. He turned his back to me and ran his hands through his hair releasing a long and agitated sigh through his nose as he did. "He could have killed you," he muttered. "He WOULD have killed you, had I not intervened…"

Something in his tone implied that he knew more about this soldier than he was letting on to. I decided, however foolish, to press the matter. "Brother," I said calmly, "you speak as though you know of this man?"

Nothing could have prepared me for my brother's response…It was quite… unnerving. He…he started laughing…not in a humorous way, mind you, but…in a quiet and… eerie way…He stared at the floor as he sighed a long, tired sigh. "Yes," he said after a long and painful pause, "yes, I know him…I know him well…quite well, in fact….Which is all the more reason why I want you to stay away from him, Abeo."

I approached my brother and touched his arm gently. "Why brother?" I asked. "Who is he?"

He laughed quietly and looked at the ceiling as though revealing the answer to me was painful for him. I waited patiently for my brother to answer. At last he glanced at me over his shoulder and I saw his resolve melt away. "That man, my dear little brother, the one who nearly killed you," he said softly, "is…he's our…elder brother…."

Astonished is an understatement to how I felt. My words were loud with disbelief. "Our what?"


	3. Flesh of My Flesh

**AN: **This is only an update! As I've stated in my profile, I'm trying to clean this story up a bit before I get started on the next installment. Sorry again this is taking so long but school is murder right now. I keep thinking things will slow down but they never do! So sorry guys.

So sorry for the delay guys. With highschool graduation and my broken finger, it's been kinda hard to finish. But here it is so no worries! I would like to thank kavinps again for his comment and his loyal reading of this story and wF for his comment as well. I really appreciate it guys, you both really helped out a lot. So, without further delay, I would like to introcduce the third installment of FEAR: Bloodline! I hope you all enjoy!

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A thousand thoughts surged through my head—hundreds of questions with no answers. Why? Why would one born of our mother attack his own? I didn't understand…

"Why did he attack us then?" I asked. "Did he not recognize us?"

Paxton laughed bitterly. "If only," he growled. "No, my dear little brother, he recognized us…All too well, I'm afraid." He walked over to me and gently examined my injuries. He frowned at what he saw. "Are you alright?" he asked softly.

"I'm fine," I said quickly, ignoring the throbbing pain in my jaw. I was not willing to let my brother dodge my question so easily. "Why won't you tell me what's going on, brother? Why did he attack us?"

My brother sighed heavily, again turning his back to me. Despair began to sweep in, to fill the silence as my dreams of belonging to a complete and loving family began to fracture. Had we not endured enough hatred and bitterness? Why were we waging a war against ourselves?

I was brought back by a light touch from my eldest brother. "Fear not, Abeo," Paxton said quietly as he stroked the side of my face ever so slightly, "mother will fix this, will fix everything. You will see. We will all see…"

I nodded, choosing to believe him. But despite Paxton's disdain, I still held out hope for our elder brother. Perhaps he would return to us on his own, see where he truly belonged. He seemed to care little for Paxton, and it was clear Paxton echoed such a feeling, but perhaps he would listen to me.

In the end, I could only hope.

"Come now, Abeo," my brother said as he broke away, "it's time we found our mother."

I shook my head in frustration. "Where do we even begin?" I asked.

He smiled his bone-chilling grin. "Armacham is not nearly as clever as they would like to believe. Though her exact location may still elude me, I know of many who can remedy the matter."

My heart raced. "Truly?"

Paxton smiled. "Her name is Alice Wade," he said coolly, "and I believe she will be quite usefully in opening a few…doors…for us."

Paxton extended his hand. "Come now, brother, let us not waste time."

A smile crept across my face as we faded to ash, embracing the darkness. Perhaps there was still hope. Perhaps all was not yet lost. At the very least, we had each other. And there was mother to consider, one who possessed the power to remedy it all.

Again, I could only hope.

It didn't take us long to arrive at the Armacham corporate building, my brother not being one to waste time.

Having been made slightly familiar with the building via his link with the Replicas, my brother had a general idea of where to start looking, which was fortunate. Otherwise we would have been searching that building for days. I wasn't much for running around either. I wanted to find our mother now. Not later.

My brother shared my restlessness and together we wasted no time in searching the building for the young Alice Wade.

Hours passed and still we had had not luck in finding the girl. I could sense my brother's growing frustration. He began to clench his jaw as we searched room after empty room, continuously coming up with nothing, not even a clue as to her whereabouts. Finally, his frustration peeked and he snapped, flipping over a small table that jutted out into his way. I jumped, startled.

For a moment, he didn't move and neither did I, fearful of what he might do next. My brother would never strike me, but when he was this angry, it was best just to leave him be until he felt like talking. Eventually his anger quelled slightly and he turned a slumped down into a chair. Running his hands through his hair, he sighed and slouched as he shook his head.

"Nothing," he hissed. "Absolutely nothing…"

I quietly approached him in an attempt to be reassuring. "Don't worry, brother," I said gently. "There are only so many places the girl can hide. We'll find her soon."

"But when?" he growled, the frustration still so very audible in his voice. "How much longer will we be forced to wait?" He rubbed his temples as he thought. I knew that he was running scenarios through his head in an attempt to figure out where the young Alice could be. After a long pause, he sighed and leaned back in the chair again, having failed to come up with anything.

I could see the grief and frustration in my brother's eyes and it upset me. I didn't want my brother to feel such things and yet, I was unable to help him, having no idea where the girl could be hiding or if she was even still alive. I placed my hand on his shoulder in a pathetic attempt to comfort him. He sighed long and tired, and placed his hand on mine and gave it a firm, reassuring squeeze.

"Don't worry, Abeo…," he said comfortingly. "We'll find her…somehow…"

As Paxton leaned back in the chair again I debated running a solution by him, one that might work to all of our advantages. But I knew that my brother would not like it. In spite of this, however, I decided it best to go ahead and try.

"Brother…there is one thing that we have yet to try," I said tentatively.

Paxton raised his head to meet my gaze, interest peaked.

Under the attentive gaze of by brother, the plan suddenly seemed so simple that it bordered on asinine. I paused for a moment but realized I might as well continue. "We could try…splitting up…?"

The moment the words left my mouth, Paxton frowned. "No," he said bluntly, as he rose from his seat.

"Brother, please! It's the only way to conserve time and you know it. The longer we run in the wrong direction the more likely the girl will get away from us, or worse. She could get herself killed and then she'll take the information of where our mother is to her grave. Then where will we be?"

"There are others, you know," Paxton interrupted. "It's not like she's our only hope."

"Truly?" I snapped. "Then why are we wasting our time looking for her? Or could it be that you have no clue where the others are either or know that their dead already?"

Paxton glared dangerously at me but said nothing. He simply frowned as he continued to stare at the wall with his back to me.

Guilt for my previous outburst crept in and I walked over to him, gently placing my hands on his shoulders. "Forgive me, brother, but you know it's the best choice that we have," I said softly. "Please consider it, for our mother's sake…"

The words struck home and I felt my brother relent. He sighed, having seen my point. He turned around and pulled me into a hug. "Forgive me, Abeo, but…I worry for you," he said. I could hear a tremor in his voice and it made me feel all the more guilty for my actions

"You're not well," he continued. "The things they've done to you…They've left you weak…and I know what you plan to do, brother. Please just let it go and stick to the task at hand, for your own safety."

I sighed. He knew that I had every intention of trying to speak to our elder brother. "I can't promise you that…you know this," I said.

"But why?" Paxton protested as he pulled away. "He cares nothing for you, for us, or for our mother! Why should _he_ be shown mercy?"

His anger was rising; it was not hard to tell. He began pacing around the room again, unable to sit still in his rage. He hated our elder brother with a passion, why, I may never know, but he did. "Brother, please, you know that she would not want this," I said, trying to intervene on behalf of our elder brother. "He has been brainwashed by the same people who took us from her, who took our lives from us! He is not to blame, Paxton, they are! Why can't you see past this?"

"Because he may kill you in the process, Abeo, or have you forgotten what he did to you, what he tried to do to you?" Paxton spat.

"Brother, enough!" I shouted, not being able to take anymore. "Please, please don't do this, don't be this way." I was begging now. "Please just trust me. Can you do that, my brother? Can you trust me?"

His features softened. "Of course I trust you, Abeo," he said earnestly. "It's that _monster__you_ call a brother I don't trust…"

He fell silent suddenly and his gazed dropped to the floor. A scowl crept into his features, but, when he looked up, his eyes told me what he could not.

He was afraid of losing me.

"I won't leave you, Paxton," I said suddenly. "I swear to you, I won't, not with this. But you must give me a chance to try and bring him back, for our mother's sake. Paxton please let me try, just once…"

Paxton thought for a moment before he spoke again. "Does it mean that much to you, Abeo? To put yourself at risk?"

"Yes, brother, our family means that much to me," I said. "Please, let me help you. Let me help you make this family complete once again. Please…"

Paxton sighed, his resolve at last broken. "Very well, Abeo…we will do it your way then…"

I sighed a sigh of relief. "Thank you brother," I said as I embraced him. "I promise you that you won't regret this decision. You'll see. It will all work out."

He sighed heavily. "I can only hope that you are right, my brother," he said wearily. "But at least do this one thing for me, Abeo."

"Yes?"

"Take the Replica soldiers with you, at least some of them."

I hesitated to answer. "You know how I feel about them, Paxton," I said carefully. I cared little for the Replicas. They were not my brother and yet they shared his face. Whenever one turned up dead….It was too unnerving.

"I know, Abeo, but please put that aside, at least for now. They're nothing more than cannon fodder, but they can keep you safe, or at least buy you some time if something goes wrong. Considering what you intend to do, I think it best."

I wanted to disagree, I did, but I knew that in refusing I would only upset him further. I relented and agreed to Paxton's terms of the division. He was overjoyed that I would at least be taking protection, as it where.

After a word of caution, my brother reluctantly left, but not before threatening my Replica escorts that should I get the least little scratch he would make they suffered a fate far worse than death. It was a tad amusing to see him act in such a way, but I stayed my tongue. Brother was not in the mood to be trifled with at the moment.

Once my brother left the soldiers turned around and stared at me, awaiting their orders. I found myself at a loss as to what to say. I had always left the command of them to my brother, having had no desire to be anywhere near them. But now I suddenly found myself in charge of a small outfit of about six men. Suddenly this began to look like an increasingly bad idea. But it was too late for that.

Uncertain of the proper protocol, I simply told them to keep up and set out where I thought the best place to start looking was.

I believe I wound up in the upper office, or, what was once the upper office. What I saw was a ransacked room filled with debris, broken glass, toppled over machines, and a sea of paper littering the floor. The place had been trashed, more than likely, by the very men that now walked behind me. The thought brought me little comfort, however. In spite of this, I continued to search the room diligently for any signs of my elder brother or Miss Wade.

I managed to find the occasional dead office worker or ATC security guard but no Alice and no signs of my elder brother, that is, until I found the stairs. The door to the stair well and the hallway leading to it were cluttered with dead Replica soldiers. As if to confirm my hunch, I heard the Replica soldiers behind me shift nervously. It was him all right, my elder brother. He had been here, and from the look of the bodies, it was recent.

At last I had a trail.

Much to the dismay of my "body guards", I dashed up the stairs, anxious to catch my elder brother before he took off down some obscure hallway and disappeared. I heard a clatter behind me as the Replica soldiers scrambled to catch up. I secretly hoped that they wouldn't, however. My elder brother would shoot them on sight and that would only make talking to him that much more difficult.

The sound of gunfire at the top of the stairs made my heart beat faster. Could that be him? Was that my brother at the top of the stair well trying to fight his way into the top most room? I tried to run faster to reach the top before it was too late.

At last, I reached the top of the stair well. I kicked down the door to the next room and made short work of searching it. My heart was beating so hard I began to shake. I could still smell the gunshot residue hovering in the air. I knew he was close but I just couldn't see him!

Having finished tearing the room apart and having found no sign of him, I cursed and blasted a filing cabinet over with my psychic gift. He had to be here. Determined to find him, I set out for the surrounding rooms. The hallways were narrower than I would have liked and they twisted and turned in every direction. I began to become frustrated and felt as if some external force was preventing me from finding him.

Static suddenly blared over the COM my brother had given me. The lights flickered and then dimmed momentarily before the static was at last clear. I heard one of the Replicas shouting to another squad that they had found the target and she was being held up in the lead researcher's office.

I smiled to myself. Not only did we now posses the location of our mother, but I at last had some bait.

I began to make a dash for the door when I suddenly felt a strange presence, as if I was no longer alone. I carefully looked around but found nothing. "Strange…" I thought as I carefully eased my way out of the door. It was then that my COM received more static. I looked at the device fearing that perhaps it had short-circuited.

It was then that I heard the sound.

The door behind me slammed shut causing me to jump and whirl around. Through the small rectangular shaped window, I saw a little girl with long black hair wearing a red dress standing just beyond the door. My heart raced and I suddenly began to feel very…strange…She suddenly spoke but did so without words as I felt I heard her with my mind and not my ears.

…_Bing__him__back_…

It was more of a plea than an order, as if she was begging me to find this person and return him to her. Though I was sure I had never met her, I felt I knew her somehow. Something inside of me told me to listen and to obey, not out of fear, but desire.

I tried to approach her. I reached for the door but it was locked. When I looked up the lights dimmed and then she was suddenly gone. Could it be?

"…Mother?"

I stood in a daze until the sound of gunfire brought me back to reality. Brother was near and if my plan was going to work, I had better hurry. I faded into darkness and soon appeared in the lead researcher's office. I startled the Replicas that were holding Ms. Wade. They jumped upon seeing me and raised their rifles. I looked at one and laughed dryly. "I wouldn't do that if I were you…" I warned.

I presume they recognized me for the lowered their guns. With a motion of my head, I ordered them to keep guard outside. Once they filed out of the room, I turned my attention to Ms. Wade.

Ms. Wade sat huddled in the corner of the office curled up as tightly as I believe one human could. She was afraid, terrified to her very core. A laugh escaped me. It was so very amusing how one simple event could reverse the roles so drastically. Such a strange thing fate is, one day it favors the oppressor and the next, the oppressed.

Such is life I suppose…

Her blue eyes were large with fear as she gazed up at me, terrified at the sight that now stood before her. I imagined I looked much different outside of the tank, standing tall on two feet, as opposed to the sickly heap I usually was reduced to by drugs. I suppose the silence was too much for her for at last a strangled little whisper of a voice escaped from her lips. "Are-are you going to k-kill me?" she squeaked.

"Me?" I laughed. "No, child, _I__'__m_ not going to kill you…however, I cannot say the same for my brother and especially not my mother…"

And there it was, the flash of curiosity. I could almost hear her unspoken thoughts: _Mother?__But__you__'__re__a__clone__you__do__not__have__a__mother._ Wench! I should have killed her just for that! She was lucky she was so valuable or, so help me, I would have thrown her out the 22nd window!

She soon realized her folly and let out the most pathetic whelp I had ever heard. She sat curled up in the corner shaking furiously holding her feeble little arms up over her as though it would help. But it only made not killing her that much harder.

"Enough _chat,_ Ms. Wade," I said with a strain to control my tone. "It's about time I took you to my brother Paxton. He's just _dieing_ to meet you."

That's when I first heard it, a sound I would never forget. It was as if it resonated through my skull, its echo hovering ever so powerfully in my ears.

I had never heard the sound of a gun being cocked before, especially not from that close. I felt the cold steel of a barrel digging harshly into the nape of my neck and I knew without looking, who stood behind me.

"Hello, _brother_," I said calmly. "We've been waiting for you…."


	4. Negotiations

Sorry for the wait guys. I got side-tracked by summer vacation and college planning. lol. But never fear! Chapter four is here! As always I would like to thank kavinps for his loayalty to this fanfic and Captain Kurt Hoffman for their reviews! Greatly appreciated fellows! I do hope that all of you enjoy the fourth installment and, as always, please lemme know what you think! You're oppinions are important to me! Please enjoy!

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My elder brother was anxious. The barrel of his gun dug deeper and deeper into the nape of my neck. I could hear the chatter of his COM. Someone was barking orders to him, telling him what to do with me. I frowned. I didn't want any interference, especially not from them.

I focused on his COM and within seconds I heard a roar of static come over it.

The Replicas that were stationed outside were dead I knew. They had probably heard my brother's entrance and had sought him out only to be picked off one by one in the quietest of ways that not even I could have heard. But that didn't bother me in the least. They only would have gotten in the way.

At last I had him alone. Now I could finally talk some sense into him and hopefully bring him back. In spite of the fact that there was a gun barrel shoved half-way into my spine I couldn't have been happier. Things were finally starting to fall into place.

I stood perfectly still to keep from alarming him. He was nervous; adrenaline was surging through his veins. The last thing I wanted was for him to get too excited and get an itchy trigger finger.

"Brother, you know that won't work," I said calmly as I tried to get him to remove the gun from its current position at the base of my skull. "Please, put the gun down."

There was no response. The gun barrel did not waver. My elder brother did not move. He simply signaled for Ms Wade to get behind him. She quickly got up and scurried behind him, fearful of what would happen next.

I frowned. I could not allow him to leave with Ms Wade, that was for certain, but if I reacted violently then a gunfight would break out and all I had was a knife. What was that saying? Never bring a knife to a gun fight? Hmm….No, things were not looking good.

"Brother, I must insist that you stop what you're doing and hear me out," I pleaded. "There is so much about yourself, your past that you do not know. Please, allow me to answer those questions that wake you in the night. I can make all of this make sense if you'd only listen to me."

His only response was a harder nudge from the barrel either signaling me to shut up or move, which I didn't know. I began to become frustrated. "Are you going to kill me?" I asked dryly. "Are you going to kill the only willing link that you have to your past? I know you've seen her. You can't lie to me. I know you've seen her because I've seen her too. She wants you to return, we all do, all you have to do is listen, my brother, and I promise that this will all make sense."

What came next, I was not prepared for.

I felt my elder brother's hand grab my right wrist. I felt him place something hard and metallic around it. It made several clicking sounds before I heard the last and finale loud clanking noise and then it clasped. It was tight and painful. When I tried to move my wrist it cut into it with sharp metallic teeth. It was then that I realized what he was doing.

He was placing handcuffs around me. As if he were going to take me back to the testing labs! I would have no part of it! I turned to face him when something sharp pierced my neck. It was then that I saw my brother pulling back one of the all too familiar needle guns. He had injected something into me.

I soon began to feel dizzy and lethargic and it was then that I realized what it was that he had injected me with. It was a powerful sedative, one the scientists used on me when I got a little…out of hand. He intended to place me under arrest and drag me back to the Armacham research facility, something I would have nothing to do with.

Before he could finish cuffing me I vanished into darkness. I allowed my voice to carry in the room. "I'm not going back," I growled. Alice screamed as I appeared on the other side of the room causing my brother to whirl around, gun raised. Once he found me, he took aim.

"Brother, don't!" I screamed.

It was too late. He had already fired before I could get the words out. The sound of the blast screamed through the room, and in that moment something very…strange happened.

It was as if time almost…stopped…Things began moving so very slowly. It was as if I could see everything. I could see the path of the bullet as it cut through the air. I could see it heading straight towards me. I could barely believe my eyes. How could it be moving so slowly?

With ease I stepped out of the bullet's path. I then turned to my brother and Ms Wade. Their voices were distorted, as if I myself were moving to fast for the sound. I was so perplexed by this that I didn't notice my brother break free of this time-slowing phenomenon.

He charged at me from across the room, his speed suddenly returned to normal as the rest of the room continued to stay in its almost frozen state. He charged at me firing his gun but, despite the fact that his speed had returned to normal, the bullets from his gun still fired at an unbelievably slow pace. I was still able to avoid being hit by any of them with ease.

It wasn't long before he was on top of me and the real fight began. He brought his right arm up and delivered a bone shattering punch that I was just barely able to doge. His fist crashed into the stone wall behind me, severely cracking it. I had no choice now. I had to fight back or I'd be killed.

I came up from my dodge with a knee to his lower gut. Thanks to his bulletproof vest it did little more than knock him back two feet and seriously jam my knee. He countered the blast with a spin heel kick to my head which sent me flying across the room and into the adjacent wall.

I quickly got up just as he was about to grab me. I jumped up and attempted to kick him in the head but he managed to catch my kick and, with his gun holstered, he was able to use his free hand to, once again, punch me in the jaw. I suddenly began to feel an all too familiar throbbing sensation. Angry, I counter kicked him with my free leg on the other side of his face.

He dropped me and staggered sideways. I landed on my feet and at last I was free. I put some distance between us and attempted to talk him out of this fight before things got even more out of hand than they already were. "Brother! You are fighting the wrong foe!" I yelled. "I am not your enemy! They are!"

He would have none of it. He hauled himself up off the floor and pulled out his assault rifle. I knew better than to try and out run it. I faded to ash just as a wave of bullets came tearing through the air, time having at last being returned to its normal state. I appeared behind the terrified Ms Wade. I grabbed her and held my knife to her throat. I had no intention of killing her, but he didn't know that, and being the good little soldier that he was, I doubted very seriously that he would kill a "civilian" as she was technically considered.

Once he realized what was going on, he froze, unwilling to endanger Ms Wade's precious little life. "It seems I at last have your attention, brother," I said as I held the knife dangerously close to Ms Wade's throat.

I suddenly began to feel my strength draining away. My hands were beginning to shake and I began feeling incredibly sick. My drugs were wearing off and his were kicking in. I was running out of time. If I was going to do this I had to do it quick.

"You must believe me, brother!" I pleaded with him. "I am not your enemy! I am not the one that tore you from your mother's arms! The present that you live in is distorted, and it was distorted by the very people you are trying to save! Please, you must believe me! If you return with me I can return everything to the way it was, the way it should be! All you have to do is come with me! Please, brother…"

The young Wade girl interrupted me. "You're crazy! Please! Let me go!" she screamed.

"Silence!" I hissed as I strained to keep the knife steady. "I wasn't speaking to you!!" I turned to my brother. "What say you, brother? Which life will you choose? The one you know or the one that was stolen from you?"

His response…broke my heart…With the same speed that we had fought with earlier he withdrew his pistol from its holster and fired at me with the precise aiming that came from one who was trained to kill from birth. The bullet tore into my hand that held the knife to Ms Wade's throat. Instinctively I dropped the knife and cradled my wounded hand. Ms Wade had pulled away from me out of fear, something that had probably saved her life. She was only lucky that she hadn't slit her own throat on my blade.

I fell to me knees in pain as my body quickly began going into shock. I looked up at my brother, eyes filled with hurt and betrayal, but there was no response. He stood strong and motionless, his eyes cold behind the goggles that helped obscure his face.

Off in the distance I heard the clatter of Replica soldiers heading our way. It wouldn't be long now before they were right on top of us. I knew I would have to leave the retrieval of Ms Wade to them, at least for now. "So…this is your decision then?" I asked my brother as the Replicas came pouring into the room. I faded into ash but allowed my voice to linger. "Pity…"

"Make sure the girl is not harmed," I warned the soldiers telepathically. "As for our brother….do what you have to…"

I soon reappeared in an abandoned office room far from the chaos that now roared on over head. My hand was covered in blood and shaking violently. I had to find some way to stop the bleeding and tend to the wound. Trying not to panic, I began searching the room for supplies. At long last I found a first aid kit. I quickly pried it open and began tending to the wound.

Needless to say a first aid kit hardly has the tools to tend to a bullet wound, but with a quick trip around the room I found another knife on a dead ATC guard and made use of it. Much to my dismay I had to dig around inside the wound with the knife to check and make sure that the bullet wasn't still lodged in it. Luckily I didn't find anything. Believing, or should I say, hoping that there was nothing there, I cleaned out the wound and stitched it up as best I could with what I had. I then rewrapped it and tossed the now useless med kit aside.

My breathing was ragged from the adrenaline that raged within my body. The shock from the wound had zapped me of most of my strength. I began to feel weak and sluggish. It was then that I remembered the sedative my elder brother had injected me with. I silently cursed him as the room began to spin around me. I desperately needed to find my medicine and quickly before my body began shutting down and I was rendered unconscious.

Using a desk for support, I pulled my self up on my feet and began staggering towards the labs. My face felt cold in spite of the fact that I was drenched in sweat. The room around me continued to spin madly and I found myself struggling to navigate through the office. A splitting migraine screamed through my head and made things even more difficult for me.

I was fading fast…

I tried to fade to ash in a desperate attempt to make it to the labs. Needless to say, in my current state, I didn't get far…I'm…I'm not quite sure where it was I landed exactly…It was dark and hard to see. The floor was cold…I tried to push myself up on my hands and knees to look around. I saw a light flashing off in the distance. It was a warning light, one similar to those in the research facilities. Its brief flashes of light revealed steal walls interrupted only by a door arch that led to an adjacent room and a platform just at the end of the hallway.

I tried to stand, to search my surroundings. I managed to use the wall to steady myself and, once again, pulled myself off the floor. With shaky legs I took a few brief steps before crashing to the floor again. My body had at last reached its limit. Without more drugs, it would no longer comply with my demands. My head became so heavy that I could no longer lift it. I barely managed to roll myself over onto my back.

So there I was, in the middle of who knows where sprawled out on the floor, unable to move. I began to panic. What was I going to do? I could no longer use my powers to reach out, I couldn't walk, and staying conscious was becoming more difficult by the second. My fearful heart began racing with in my chest as it realized the dismal situation.

My thoughts were so consumed with my current predicament that I didn't even hear the foot steps clamoring through the adjacent room. It was the panicked shouting of someone that brought me back to reality. Through sheer force of will I managed to turn my head to the loud disturbances. There, in the middle of the doorway, stood my worst fear….Four of them.

Four tall, stunned, well armed ATC security officers stood in the front of the doorway, gaping at what they saw laying on the floor just a few feet from them…me… I panicked. "No!" I thought desperately. "NO! This cannot be happening!! I won't go back!!" I tried desperately to make myself stand and to run but my body would not obey. All it would allow was for me to prop myself up on my elbows and get a better look at the four guards that were now pulling out tasers and restraints.

Fear gripped my heart as a fate worse than death loomed over me. I was helpless, powerless, and completely at their mercy….I thought I was done for…. In desperation I cried out. I screamed at the top of my lungs for help. I begged for someone, _anyone_, to save me.

It was then that I saw her at the edge of the platform, the answer to my prayers. The static rumbled over my COM and I knew without fully seeing her, that it was her, that she was there, that I was safe.

It all happened so fast I doubt very seriously that I can explain it to you. In a flash the four men that hovered over me dissolved into nothing but bone. Their blood splattered against the walls and the ceiling, drenching everything in the room, except me. I was untouched.

I looked up, desperately wanting to catch a glimpse of her, but the light would not permit it. All I could see was a small shadow slowly walking towards me. I tried to reach out to her, to touch her. I wanted desperately to see her, so desperately. She walked near to me, arm extended. She too was reaching out. At long last she reached me and, for just a moment, the tips of my fingers brushed up against hers as the room around me began to dissolve into darkness.

And just like that, it was all over. The darkness had engulfed me and when it at last released me, I was back in the Armacham offices and she was no where to be found. All that remained was her lingering voice…

………_You're safe now_……..

Indeed I was, thanks to her. I laid on the floor, attempting to calm my racing heart. My vision began to tunnel and I knew it wouldn't be long before the sedatives won me over to sleep. In my last few moments of consciousness I heard a door bust open and the all too familiar sound of my worried brother, Paxton, clamoring into the room.

He quickly scooped me up into his arms, calling my name. "Abeo? Abeo!" he cried. "Abeo, w-what happened?! Abeo!"

I smiled weakly up at him. "Don't worry, brother," I said quietly. "I just need my medicine…Mother took care of the rest…."

What he said next, I don't know. My body was finally won over to sleep and my mind drifted off into darkness.

In the darkness I dreamt. I saw things, visions, thoughts that were not my own. They surged through my mind with chaotic speed, lingering for a moment only to flash away and quickly be replaced by something else. None of them made sense. Each one was more cryptic than the last, always changing, swirling in my thoughts as though they were smoke. It was no surprise that I awoke startled and bewildered.

I cannot tell you how long it was that I was unconscious. We had no real way of telling how much time had past. I looked around and found my brother lightly sleeping in a chair next to the bed he had laid me in. When I stirred he awoke immediately, ready for the worst as always. He was relieved to see that I was alright.

Paxton sighed a sigh of relief. "I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't wake up," he said worriedly.

I smiled. "I always do," I said reassuringly. "You needn't worry so much, brother."

"So you say," he mused, "but you have yet to prove that." He sighed again and leaned back in his chair. His gaze drifted down to my wounded hand and he frowned. "I take it things did not go as planned…" he said.

I sighed as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. "It's worse than I feared," I said shaking my head. "They've done quite a number on him, brother. He's barely even human anymore…"

Paxton said nothing. He didn't have to. I knew what he was thinking. I hung my head in shame. If only I had listened to him perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation. He had been right all along, painfully so in fact. But in my stubbornness I refused to believe him and went ahead with a blind and misplaced faith only to fail miserably. And to make matters worse it had cost us, dearly. I couldn't help but wonder how in the world I could fix this horrible mess I had made.

Paxton placed his hand on my shoulder. "Don't fret, Abeo," he said kindly. "It's not as impossible as it seems."

I looked up at my brother and met his gaze with one of disbelief. I couldn't help but wonder if he spoke the truth or was simply attempting to make me feel more at ease. "She hasn't gotten far," he continued. "It seems our elder brother was too slow for her tastes. She's now attempting to find her father and escape on her own."

I looked at him with disbelief. She'd have to be daft to attempt such a feat. Paxton laughed at my expression. "I told you she had a knack for finding trouble," he said. "It seems you didn't believe me."

"Oh, no, I believed you," I replied. "I simply thought one hired by Armacham would be naïve, not brain dead."

My brother laughed again. "One would think," he said, "but apparently not."

I placed my feet on the floor and carefully stood up. My strength felt as though it had return. "I take it you found the medicine then, yes?" I asked.

Paxton nodded as he rose from his chair. "Yes, I did, and just in time it would seem," he said quietly. "Your breathing was beginning to change. It took more this time to make it stop…"

"It's probably just from the strain," I interrupted, not wanting him to think on it much longer. "I wouldn't place too much thought on it."

Paxton nodded but remained quiet. He seemed to be deep in thought. I held my tongue to let him think, not wanting to disturb him. After some time he broke the silence. "She's still in the Auburn district," he said. "She's not too far from here. And finding her shouldn't be a problem." He turned to me, worry on his face. "Do you think you're up to it?"

I nodded. "Yes, brother," I said reassuringly. "I'm fine now, thanks to you."

Paxton smiled wanly. "This time," he said. "Next time you might not be so lucky. No more reckless endeavors?"

I sighed. "By that you mean stay away from brother, yes?" I asked. He nodded. With another sigh I agreed. "Very well, brother. Have it your way."

"It's for the best," he said as he placed his arm around my shoulders. "He's too far gone, Abeo. You knew that when you looked into his eyes. You just didn't want to admit it."

"I know…" I said solemnly. "I just…I just didn't want to believe it…I still don't want to believe it…"

"I know, Abeo, I know," he said soothingly. "It's a pity, but there's only so much we can do. We have other, more pressing matters at hand. We don't have time to chase after what very well maybe a lost cause."

I nodded in agreement. He spoke the truth. It wasn't hard to see. But even the truth can be hard to swallow, especially when every fiber in your being wants so desperately for it to not be so. But there was no denying what my brother said. And so I agreed to not seek out our elder brother anymore.

Paxton was relieved. It was something that he couldn't very well hide. I knew he only felt that way for my own well being though. I had had two encounters with our elder brother and both had nearly cost me my life. In spite of this though, I couldn't help but feel sorrow, the kind you feel when you've lost something dear to you. But hadn't we though? We who were once three now only two? It shouldn't be that way, but it was, and, as much as I hated it, there was nothing I could do to change it. At least not for now…

Having sensed my distress, Paxton tried to focus my attention on other things. I turned to him when he began pulling something out of his coat. Much to my surprise it was a needle gun, filled with the medicine my body needed to function.

He handed the needle gun over to me. "Just in case," he smiled. I nodded and placed the device within the coat I was wearing for a later time.

"Now then, "he said as he reached his hand out to me. "Let's find Miss Wade, shall we?"

I smiled as I grabbed his hand and together we faded to ash. The sorrow I felt from the realization that our elder brother may never returned subsided when I thought of what I did have. I still had Paxton, and then there was mother. Even if things wouldn't work out the way I had hoped, what I had was better than nothing. I refused to sacrifice them for something that may not be possible. I would hold on to them instead and perhaps, one day, he would return on his own, and, if not, well, at least I wasn't alone anymore.


	5. First Encounter

Sorry for the delay guys. I had some bad writters block. Anyways. Once again I would like to thank my loyal reader kavinps for his continuous loyalty and reviews. Much appreciated my friend, dunno where I'd be without you. I'd also like to thank those of you who continue to read this story. It really means a lot to me. I do hope that you like this next chapter. Please lemme know what you think. You're comments are much needed my friends! And now for chapter five! Please enjoy!

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The darkness faded away and I opened my eyes to a dank and dreary room. It reflected years of abandonment and mistreatment. The paint had all but chipped away, the glass in the one window was broken, a large whole and been knocked out of one of the walls, and the frame that at one time held a bed was rusted.

Out side a thunderstorm brewed casting even more shadows in the half lit room. Lightning flashed across the sky as rain beat against what remained of the glass in the window. Thunder roared outside in the dark night, screaming through the emptiness that was once a city. All that remained now were echoes.

I began feeling, strange. There was a sense a familiarity with this place, but for what reason I didn't know. But something about it stirred something deep within me, awakening some part of me that I have never felt before. It was as if the echo was calling to me, but somewhere within me, the translation was lost and so I stood in confusion, unsure of what it was that connected me to this place, and unsure of what it was I was supposed to do.

"Abeo?" Paxton called.

I turned my gaze from the window to him. "Yes, brother?" I answered him.

Paxton looked concerned. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Y-yes, I'm fine," I said. "What is this place, brother? Where are we?"

He sighed. "In truth, I'm not sure exactly," he said as he too turned his attention towards the window and the storm raging just beyond it. "We're still in the Auburn district, not to far from the Rammelmeier Industrial Compound. That's where we're headed. But Miss Wade is passing through here, and we need to intercept her before brother does."

"Rammelmeier Industrial Compound? Why there? What does it have to do with anything?" I asked confused as to what an old compound had to do with us finding our mother.

Paxton smiled. "We have Mr. Habegger to thank for that," he said. "It's not so much the compound itself, but what lies beneath it. Many of his thoughts traced back to there. I hope that they did so for good reason. But we will need help getting in and moving around once we're inside. That's were Miss Wade comes in and that's why we must find her."

"So, do you think that mother is beneath the compound somewhere?" I asked, excitement in my voice.

"I hope so," he said quietly. I watched as his thoughts drifted off far away. It was at times like these that I held my peace, knowing that my brother was thinking of a different time and place. His features softened and his eyes glazed over. His thoughts were not happy ones.

I walked over to him and touched his arm gently, wanting to shake him from his thoughts without startling him. "Paxton?" I called.

He turned to me and smiled wanly, his eyes no longer glazed over. "Don't worry, Abeo," he said reassuringly. "We'll find her."

"I know we will, brother," I said with a half-smile. "Come on, let's go," I added as I tugged at his arm.

And so we set out to finish what we had started. Miss Wade was near, though I didn't know how my brother intended to find her, but I trusted my brother and knew that he had a way of getting things done, however impossible they might seem. Mostly I was keeping an eye out for our elder brother. I didn't want him coming anywhere near Paxton. I had no way of knowing exactly what had happened in our last meeting, but I knew that I didn't want Paxton in that kind of situation, and definitely not alone.

Paxton assured me that I needn't worry about our elder brother. He had made sure that the entire place was crawling with Replica's that would slow him down plenty long enough for us to find Miss Wade and depart for the Rammelmeier Compound. I retorted with a dry comment of how they had done such a fantastic job of slowing him down last time. Paxton frowned and grumbled something about 'dumb luck.' I laughed quietly to myself at my brother's little out burst. How I couldn't wait till this was all over and I got to see my poor brother lighten up a bit. How he needed it.

It wasn't long before the sound of gun fire crept in on us. Our elder brother wasn't far behind. I offered to go lend the Replica's aid while Paxton continued to look for Miss Wade.

"There's no need!" he retorted. "We're almost there!"

"Paxton, he's on top of us!" I insisted. "Let me buy you some time. I know what he's capable of. I can slow him down while keeping a safe distance. I'm not going to make the same mistake that I made last time."

Paxton seemed unsure. "I promised you, didn't I?" I added. "Please, trust me, brother. I'm only going to slow him down. I won't try and confront him again, I promise you."

He was reluctant again. "Every time we separate something bad happens to you, Abeo," he said. "I'm not willing to risk your safety."

I sighed. "I was only injured because I got too curious for my own good," I reminded him. "I've learned my lesson now, Paxton. I'm not the one who can reach him. I'm going to leave that to mother. But for now I want to help you. Please, let me go and buy you some more time."

The gunfire encroached on us even more. It was as if it was ringing in our very ears now. I could see my brother struggling with an answer. He knew he needed more time, but he didn't want to let me leave his side after all that had happened. But before he could answer, the decision was made for him.

Just down the hall, a door was kicked open and out of the smoke and rubble our elder brother emerged. My heart raced as he raised his gun. He had been closer than I had feared. Using the gifts given me by our mother I sent the ceiling crashing down around our elder brother's ears. I turned to Paxton. "Run!" I shouted over the groans of the old building.

Paxton grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. "Be safe, my brother," he said quietly, fear whispering in his voice.

"I will," I promised him as I returned his embrace. "Now get going," I said as I pulled away and turned my attention back to our elder brother. I could hear Paxton hesitate, but it wasn't long before I heard his footsteps fade down the hallway. I sighed a sigh of relief. Paxton was off to safety. Now I could take care of this nuisance without the distraction of worry.

It didn't take long for him to claw his way out of the rubble. Before I knew it he was back up and shooting at me from down the hallway. I dove into an adjacent room just in time. Moving quickly I made the best of my surroundings and grabbed a metal pipe that had broken off from the steel framed bed.

I could hear him coming. I could hear his heavy footsteps quickly pounding down the hallway. I slipped into the shadows of the room and waited, though not for long. Soon he busted into the room, gun raised like any good soldier, and he began searching for me with haste. I moved silently across the room, pipe raised, ready to strike my brother across the back of his head. I'm not so sure he heard me so much as he sensed me behind him. He turned in the nick of time and my pipe collided with his gun.

I didn't waste time trying to over power him. I had a better idea. I faded to ash only to appear right next to him and in one fatal sweep I swung at his knee. Flesh and metal collided and a sickly cracking sound echoed through the room as my brother fell to his knees. The next swing connected with his back bringing my elder brother face down to the floor.

My brother, however, didn't nurse his injuries. He quickly rolled over on his back and fired at me with his rifle. I was forced to flee into the realm darkness to avoid being hit. I could see him struggling to stand in my mind. I could feel his pain and agony that resonated from his knee. My heart wept for him, but he had given me no other choice.

I allowed my voice to echo into the room where my brother laid suffering. "Why do you do this to yourself, my brother?" I said solemnly. "Why do you insist on getting in our way? Why do you make yourself suffer like this? Please, give up this senseless endeavor and come with us. Join us, brother, and all this pain will end…"

My answer came in my brother finally rising to his feet and reloading his gun. I sighed. "I take that as a no then?" I said as I appeared behind him. I quickly and silently took a sedative from one of the packs on his belt and administered it before he could turn around. Having had no immunity to it built up in his system, he immediately fell into the drug induced sleep. I caught him and carefully laid him down. "Pleasant dreams, my brother," I said in a hushed voice. "Perhaps you will awaken to your senses."

I stared at my elder brother for just a moment before I left. How strange it was, to see him asleep… He looked as though he was still fighting, even now, as he lay unconscious on the ground…as if some private war still raged on within his own mind. A pity it was, to see what he had become, to know how he could have been, something so much more.

When I turned to leave, I was startled by a reflection in a shattered mirror, my own, sadly. Having realized my folly, I laughed at my own paranoia. Had I become that skittish that my own reflection even startled me? Upon closer inspection I began to realize why I had jumped. My own reflection was quite a sight. I had forgotten how gaunt I was. The bandages didn't help matters either. Then there was my eye…my left eye, the only one I still retained. With it came memories, terrible memories, all flooding back at once…

I glanced back at my elder brother and remembered my thoughts from earlier. Was I any less of a shell than he? Were any of us? In truth weren't we all the same? Lifeless, shadow creatures, once human, now no longer, haunting the memories of the true monsters that had brought us into this world, into this wretched existence? No…I was no different…I only seemed so from perspective, but at arms length any fool could tell that I was just as hallow as he. The only difference was that I did not wish to remain so…

I quickly shook such thoughts from my mind. Now was not the time to be thinking on such things. Paxton needed my help in catching Miss Wade, and that's exactly what I intended to do. I tried to ignore the pathetic whimpers that emitted from my elder brother as I departed the room. I didn't want to know the nightmares he was facing. At least I knew the name of my enemy and its face, my elder brother had no such luxury. I suppose, to him, both friend and foe must have looked the same. What an incredible shame that must be…but, alas, it was, as of now, his own choosing. Whatever grief he faced because of it was his own doing, and I would not be able to help him.

I suppose now, more than ever, he really was on his own….

I once again embraced the shadows as they wrapped around me and engulfed me, transporting me to the realm of darkness. What better name for it, this place of nothingness that we pass through time and again. So bleak and void of life….it was truly a sight to behold…and endless eon of nothing, complete and utter emptiness. Strange how ones such as we, who too contained so little, used such a thing, but then again, perhaps that was the whole reason we could for we, like it, were almost complete voids, save for a few strong, basic emotions. Perhaps it recognized us as its own and allowed us safe passage through it for that very reason.

However, something this time was off. No matter how hard I tried, I could not see my brother Paxton. It was as if he was no where to be found. I reached out time and again but each and every time the signal returned void, and I was unable to locate him.

I began to feel distressed. Why could I not find my brother? Had something happened to him? Was he injured or worse? I began to panic as I frantically searched for him, phasing in and out of different areas in a frantic attempt to find him. Time and again I choose incorrectly and found nothing, not even a sign of him. Fear began gripping my heart as I began to sense some form of interference. Something was inhibiting me from finding him intentionally, but what, and why?

My heart began pounding so hard that at first I didn't even notice it, the sound that began growing louder in the background. I only caught bits of it. A whisper…and then another…and another…until finally I began hearing whole sentences. There was a chorus of them, hundreds of voices echoing within the darkened hallways singing an immaculate chorus of unintelligible words. Not a bit of it was intelligible. I doubt very seriously if any of it was even in English, but, in spite of this language barrier, I knew what I was to do.

I was to follow. And follow I did.

I obediently followed the bodiless voices down darkened corridor after darkened corridor and with each and every step I took I began to notice something strange. With each passing moment the world around me began to become so very…surreal…

Long ago I had left the realm of darkness to follow the persistent echoes but it was as if a part of that alternate realm still remained. Something had changed. Something was…off…Everything began to seem so incredibly…distorted and defaced… It almost felt as if time had, in a sense, stopped, and I was simply sifting through the granules of sand as they swirled within the hourglass.

For a moment, just a moment, I dared to stop and perceive this alternate world to which I was so willingly being led through. A small aged and weathered vase rested atop a small wooden table next to me in the dank and dreary corridor that I was being led down. I reached out for it as its imaged seemed to twist and turn within this bizarre reality. Such a mind boggling display could not go without a proper investigation, I felt; however, those leading me had other thoughts in mind.

Just before I came in contact with the vase, I felt a tug at my arm and I heard the voices speaking in a rushed, frantic tone. I turned and was greeted by five pairs of glowing red eyes curiously and impatiently looking up at me. I jumped out of fear. Each pair of eyes seemed to just float in mid air. Naturally, I thought I was going mad. If I looked hard enough -and I barely dared to do so- I felt as though I could see a small, hunched humanness form belonging to each pair of eyes, and yet, I could see right through them as though they weren't even there.

Every fiber of my being told me to turn and run the other way and yet, at the same time, my body would not allow me to turn my back on such creatures in fear of what they might do if I were to do so. I tried to calm myself. I thought it safe to presume that showing fear around them was probably not the wisest of choices. It was then when I began to tremble in spite of myself that the strangest of things happened….

The harsh whispers suddenly changed to soothing mummers. The tugs suddenly turned into gentle nudges. It was as if they had sensed my unrest and wished for me not to feel such. Needless to say I was confounded… Why would such menacing creatures care the least bit about my personal comfort?

Again my thoughts were interrupted by more nudges in what I presumed to be the "right direction." They're behavior was so very strange. They'd nudge me, then stop and stare at me inquisitively, then, if I continued not to move, nudge me again and then repeat the cycle. Flabbergasted and having not a clue as to what to do, I decided to continue to go along with whatever little scheme they were plotting. I concluded that if they had wanted to kill me, they would have already done so seeing as how I was severely out numbered.

The creatures were practically giddy when I continued to allow them to lead me along the path they had me treading down. Two of the five ran on ahead and impatiently awaited me to catch up. The other three stood near by and continued to nudge me down hallways and around corners. Nothing about this boded well but, then again, I suppose that, in my case, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Finally after some time of walking all the creatures ran on ahead of me and stopped at a molded door with a rotting frame. They pawed at the door and then turned and stared at me impatiently. I stood still for a moment, somewhat dreading the opening of that door. I was doubtful that I would be happy to see whatever was behind it, but when one of the creatures growled impatiently I decided that I didn't have much say in the matter.

As I walked up to the door the creatures parted allowing me to reach the door knob. Once I placed my hand on it I turned and glanced back at the creatures. The blankly gazed at the door knob in my hand and then, once I didn't turn it, turned in unison and stared at me as if wondering what I was waiting for.

Unwilling to make them wait any longer out of fear of what they might do should I not open the door, I proceeded to grant their wishes and turned the knob. The door creaked open slowly and, much to my dismay, loudly. If there was something in the room that wasn't aware of my presence before, it was now.

I took a careful look around before stepping into the room, though there wasn't much that I could see. The room was nearly pitch-black. I could just barely make out a few pieces of furniture half-hazardly scattered across the room. In an attempt to keep from entering the room, I precariously leaned in; however, this would not suffice for the creatures that had gone to so much trouble to lead me there.

With one swift push I was politely shoved into the room and sent stumbling about over furniture and other clutter that had been left lying about. I turned to protest this act but was greeted with a slamming door and the sound of a twisting lock that clicked closed from the outside. I was now locked in.

Lovely….

My heart began hammering in my chest. I had no earthly idea where I was and to top it off I could barely see, five creatures of some un-earthly origin lurked outside waiting to do who knows what to me, and now I was locked in. The room began to twist and turn in distortion and in the background I heard something move behind me. My heart was threatening to strangle me as it hammered in my throat. The voices that I had once believed belonged to the crimson eyed creatures entered the room and swirled around me as the temperature within plummeted to below freezing.

My breath rose in the air in small clouds of steam as the voices that surrounded me gave way to another, more familiar voices.

……._Over here….._

I turned without needing to. I knew who stood behind me. The voices around me faded into nothing and only her voice remained. When I at last saw her, I felt as though the room began to hold its breath, stopping time for this brief reunion. She stood just beyond the shadows, prohibiting me from seeing her, but I didn't need to. I knew she was there.

Joy swelled up in my heart and the fear I once felt earlier was cast aside. All was made right again at the sound of her voice. I froze, not wanting this moment to end, not wanting to miss a thing, a word, anything. I eagerly awaited her to speak again, longing only to hear her voice.

I soon began to see a small dark cloud forming in the middle of the room. It swirled in a tight cluster, ominously beckoning me to come forward. Small flashes of light flickered within the cloud, but in spite of this the cloud still stood out from the rest of the shadows, its darkness almost consuming them. Its darkness cast a light across the rest of the room, allowing me to just barely make out her small silhouette.

……_This way….._

Her request was simple. There was something that she wished for me to do on the other side. I nodded and obediently walked into the darkness. It quickly engulfed me and I soon lost the ability to see, the void was too great. As quickly as it had begun, it ended, and I found myself standing in a half-lit research facility.

I carefully looked at my new surroundings. I was standing in an observatory room over looking a large steel orb that seemed to be, floating, by some magnetic force. It swirled around continuously just beyond the safety glass, forever floating in its magnetic cage.

Another quick glance around the observatory revealed dozen upon dozens of computers and monitors, each spitting out thousands of bits of data, each carefully monitoring its assigned tasks.

The all too familiar sound of static blared over my COM as each and every monitor fizzled out into a barrage of static and white noise. It was then that I heard a new, alien voice behind me.

It was panicked, almost frantic sounding as it tried to stammer out a sentence. I turned to see an elderly man with white hair and a graying mustache wearing a brown trench coat. His glasses had been thrown off centered in his frightened search of the room. He seemed to be confused as to where he was.

I stirred to get a closer look at him. That's when he saw me. He jumped, startled at first by my appearance but then, then he did something quite strange…He seemed to…relax….as if he recognized me.

"Ah…So I see they let you out as well?" he said unshaken. "I expected as much…Heh, I wonder if that witch Aristide knows that she ahs another little problem on her hands. Humph, I'll let her figure it out."

I was right. This man was a strange one indeed. He didn't seem troubled by my presence in the least. In fact, I dare say that he was quite comfortable around me, if such a thing was possible. My curiosity must have been noticeable, for he glanced back up at me and stared at me for just a moment.

"You don't recognize me, do you, A.R.-1?" he asked.

A.R.-1. I couldn't help but recall that name with disgust. I knew who he was now. He was one of those wretched researchers that led the experiments done on me. Rage swelled up within me. How dare he address me by that name!

"My name is Abeo," I corrected him.

He nodded as he placed his hands in his coat's pockets and turned to face the spherical holding cell. "So she's named you, has she?" he said quietly. "I didn't think she would, seeing as how you were not like the others. We were doubtful she would even accept you considering the nature of you birth."

He paused for a moment seemingly replaying the events in his mind. "It was that very theory that led us to believe that it was safe for us to use this facility for your cloning," he continued, pausing only to sigh deeply as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if such thoughts of stupidity still gave him migraines. "It would seem from her reaction then, and now, that we were wrong…horribly, horribly wrong…"

The strange man then turned and walked closer to the glass that separated the observatory from the holding chamber. He got as close to the threshold as the bulky computers and monitors would allow him. I followed, anxious to hear what more he might reveal about my birth; however, I was cautious to maintain a safe distance from him, not willing to repeat my previous mistakes. Something within me sensed a heavy presence looming over him. This made him feel threatening, and I was not willing to risk my safety for things that were no longer relevant however enticing they might be.

The man stared at the spinning prison and sighed remorsefully. I could sense a great wave of guilt and self loathing wash over him. I began to wonder how deep his ties to all of…well…_this_, ran. I decided, however, that, from his demeanor, I didn't want to know.

After what felt like an eternity the man glanced back over his shoulder at me. "I don't bite," he said with a half-hearted laugh. "At least, not anymore…"

I knew it was an invitation to come and learn more, however, I could not ignore the fact that my eye had now spotted something jutting lethally out of his coat's inner pocket. It was a pistol, a Colt, to be exact, and, from the looks of it, it had been used recently.

"So you say," I murmured.

The man followed my gaze back to his weapon. "Oh…that," he said as he carefully tucked it away. "That's not meant for you, my boy."

My boy? Ha! Who did he think he was talking to? What right had he? …Still….part of me felt…sympathetic….for the man. There was something so finale in the way he spoke. I decided to put aside my grievances and humor him, at least for the moment.

Approaching him slowly I inquired as to whom it was for.

"A lap dog that sorely needs to be put out of all of our misery," he said with a dry expression.

The silence quickly grew thick. How I was beginning to hate silence. It was all I had ever known, and I was beginning to have had enough of it. So, I decided to allow myself one small little pleasure, and killed it.

"So…you are Harlan Wade…yes?" I asked.

A bombshell, I know, but I was curious to see how he would react. Everyone else when caught with their hand in this affair would shrink away and make excuses. I'm not sure which disgusted me more, the gravity of what they had done, or their inability to confess it. This man, however, Mr. Wade, surprised me.

"Yes," he said coolly, remorsefully. "Yes…I am the monster that began this…_insatiable_ act…"

I was the one taken aback. I had not expected such, honesty, from the very one that had started it all. My surprise must have been written across my face, for Harlan glanced back at me and laughed dryly. "Why do you look so surprised?" he asked. "You knew who I was the moment I called you A.R.-1."

"Y-yes," I stammered. "But…you're reaction…it was…unexpected…"

"Was it now?" he asked. "Hmm…yes…I suppose it was….considering the others you must have seen…I've come to terms with what I've done, and I know that I must answer for my crimes…I figured that out a long time ago…Every since we let you out….But I suppose the other idiots I work with simply wanted to forget and pretend this never happened…as if it would all just, go away, die out into the night if it was simply never mentioned again."

He paused for a moment, yet again staring intently at the floating cell just outside the observatory. "I never was very good at lying to myself," he said. "And to think this would all go away was too…illogical…I knew that I'd never be able to out run it….So…I simply waited….waited for when she would come for me…." He turned to me, looking me over for just a minute. "And then she sent you," he continued. "You, the last…of all of the things we've created in this pit, she sends you…How strange of her….I can't help but wonder, what must she be thinking right now?"

How incredibly cryptic of him, and yet, his words, tore at me. Was I so different from my brothers? What was he getting at? Unable to stand it any longer I asked, "What do you mean?"

Much to my aggravation, he laughed. "You mean you haven't noticed?" he asked, as though the answer should be obvious to me. "Well, I suppose you wouldn't…Perhaps my reasoning is based off observations more from your youthful self than your current one."

I tilted my head in curiosity. My memory, thanks to many factors, was not as good as it should have been. There was much of my youth that I did not remember, and I do mean much, but still. The parts that I did retain seemed like something that the others would have gone through. There was nothing so out of the ordinary that struck me as odd, especially when considering Paxton's past. Whatever it was that he was referring to eluded me.

He shook his head. "No, I doubt very seriously that you've changed," he said with a wan smile. "Let me refresh your memory. Once, when you were a boy, a young green horn lab tech made the mistake of walking into your cell without his pass card. Once the door slide shut, he was locked in with you. Naturally, considering past events with your elder brother, he panicked. The fool was even armed, with a taser mind you, but, if used long enough and at full power, it can still kill a man, not that you even needed the blasted thing to kill him though. You could kill a man just by looking at him at age ten, though you never did."

His words brought back a foggy memory. It was still too elusive, however, and I was unable to recall the ending of the event. Harlan noticed my struggles and decided to finish the tale for me. "He was at your mercy, you know," he continued. "And to make matters worse, the fool pulled the taser on you and threatened to shoot should you move. We were all watching from the security room, and, has horrible as this sounds, anxiously awaiting to see what you were going to do."

He paused, smiling to himself as he shook his head at what he recalled. I became impatient, and suddenly realized that I was intrigued. I wanted to hit myself. I knew that I shouldn't care what this man said, nor should I still allow him to draw breathe considering all that he had done to me and my family…and yet….I…I couldn't seem to muster up the rage to kill him. Ashamed and at a loss as to what to do, I asked him to finish the story.

"Your reaction was by far the strangest thing any of us had ever seen," he said. "Provoked, and with every right to kill him, your decision frightened us more so I think than the acts that your brother Paxton had committed. You…you spared him…You showed more humanity to him than we, the great scientists of the age, had shown you, and you were just supposed to be a clone, not even technically human by some standards. You sat quietly where you were and simply, stared at him, curiously looking up at him as he frantically smashed the emergency button. And then to top it off, when the guards came and couldn't get the door open, you…you let him out…Abeo, you opened the door for him…"

Now I was confused. "I what?" I asked in disbelief.

"I told you it was strange," he said. "And that's why I can't help but wonder why on earth she sent you, the one who has never shed even a drop of blood."

"I-I never killed anyone?" I asked knowing that such a statement had to be false. I despised every one of the researchers that had made me the way that I was. I had fantasized about how I would kill them, all of them, constantly in my cell. Knowing this, how could it be that I never harmed a soul? I thought I had, I could have sworn I had…but…looking back…I found that I couldn't distinguish between my reality, and the fantasy that I had made to keep myself alive.

What was happening to me?

"No," he answered. "Not a one. We all knew that you wanted to, and several times you came very, very close. But each and every time, you stopped, and just…walked away…"

I nearly became engulfed by my own thoughts, but, before I could get very far, I was hit with a question out of the blue.

"Tell me, Abeo, what is it that you want?" he asked.

"What is it that _I _want?" I repeated the question, finding it hard to answer having never been asked it.

"Yes," Harlan answered, "what is it that you want?"

I hesitated to answer for a moment, the answer to the question holding so much more meaning to one such as I then to someone else. "I…I want to find my family," I answered quietly. I found myself unable to look at him as I did so. Something about his gaze…I felt as though he could see into my mind simply by looking into my eye. I didn't want that. My thoughts were private, the only thing that I, until previously, had. "I want to find my family and reunite them," I continued. "I want to find them and…take them away from here….I want to leave this place with them and go…somewhere where far away where we can be left alone and simply…be together…."

Mr. Wade smiled to himself as he again turned his gaze back to the floating cell. "I thought as much," he said thoughtfully.

There was an awkward silence as he thought deeply on something just out of my reach. I tried to read his mind, to see his thoughts, but they were illegible, continuously swirling around inside of his head as though they were nothing more than clouds of smoke and fog. This fact disturbed me. He was nothing more than an Armacham employee, however high up he ranked, so why was it that I, a psychic being, could not read his thoughts? I began to fear that I was losing my edge.

What he said next only added to my fears. "You haven't lost your edge, Abeo," Harlan said with a slight laugh. "Quite the contrary, I think you're growing stronger each day. I think she thinks so to, otherwise I doubt she would have sent you here alone."

I began to lose all sense of feeling and, before I knew it, I was numb. Something about this entire incident was so very unnerving that I found myself unable to even think of a single reason as to why this was all happening. Nothing about any of this seemed real. It all seemed like a twisted dream. What was happening to me? Had my elder brother risen from his pain sunken state on the floor only to bash me in the head with his gun whilst I wasn't looking sending me into this bizarre dream world?

"Why are you here?" I blurted out without thinking. A strange question, yes, but why not ask it? He seemed to have the answer to everything else…

Harlan laughed in that same, strange fashion that my brother did, save the fact that his, Harlan's, seemed much more, sad…Again I could hear finality in his voice. What was it he was planning? "Why am I here?" he repeated my question. "Or why did she bring me here?"

"Why did she bring you here?" I asked again, knowing that I would not get an answer to the former.

He sighed long and hard as he hung his head. "Well…of that….I'm not entirely sure…." he said. "But…I think…I think she brought me here to deliver a message…."

"A message?" I asked. "About what? I don't understand…"

He laughed. "That makes two of us," he said. "Perhaps she wanted you to know a little more about yourself…a little more that she couldn't tell you…Or, perhaps there's another meaning entirely…"

Seeing as how his answer didn't satisfy me, he continued. "I don't pretend to know what she's thinking, Abeo," he said. "I gave up that a long time ago. Whatever it is she sees or however it is she sees it eludes me. But, I think that, in this, perhaps I've finally done something right. Perhaps in telling you this one last thing, over looked by so many others, I've finally done something right in her eyes."

He spoke with such emotion that I dared not speak. Whatever it was that he believed he was to do, he believed it so strongly that I dared not to deny him.

"Abeo," he began with great difficulty, "it should be noted that you've never killed another living soul, in spite of the fact that you have had every right, yet, when given the chance, you've chosen mercy, time and time again. Although you are your mother's son, and brother to Paxton, you are not as they are. Abeo, there's….there's something different about you though I find I just can't quite explain it."

I suddenly found that the numbness was gone and in its place were hundreds upon hundreds of emotions, all vying for control. "What do you mean?" I asked, panic in my voice. I held no greater fear than that of the possibility of being rejected. If I was different, would she accept me? Or deny me?

Harlan hesitated to answer for a moment, thinking on how best to word what it was that he wanted to say. Finally he spoke, but it was with more clarity than I think I was capable of handling. "It's as if you're not one of them, Abeo, but a part of them," he said. "A part of them that had long sense been strangled so much so that it nearly died until it, in one last feeble attempt to remain, it bore itself in you. It's almost as if….this sounds crazy but…it's almost as if you're….you're they're conscious, Abeo. As if you're the one last flicker of compassion that each at one time held. It's as if you're the last bit of humanity left in them."

His words struck a chord somewhere deep within me that's reverberations sent echoes streaming through out my entire existence. I thought his words were untrustworthy, and held little weight, but if that was so then why, why did I feel this way? Something stirred within me, as if finally awakening from a long slumber. My heart began to ache and somehow I knew that his words were true and within that moment something within me broke and pain and sorrow flooded my heart.

The walls around us began to melt away, swirling and spinning in their faulty existence, at last giving way to reality. I looked and saw Harlan begin to drift away, fading back to wherever it is he had come from.

I felt panicked. He couldn't leave yet; there was still so much I wished to ask him. So much I needed to know. But time would not have it. He continued to fade as a rift grew between us, a threshold so great that not even I could cross it.

"Wait!" I cried out. "What does this mean?! I don't understand! Am I-am I only a fragment?!"

Harlan shook his head solemnly. "I can't answer that for you, Abeo," he said quietly. "Only she can…"

A blanket of darkness was pulled over my eyes and I could no longer see. Although chaos rushed around me, all I could hear were Harlan's finale words echoing within my mind. _"I can't answer that. Only she can…."_

In a flash the darkness gave way to light and I at last found myself back where I had begun although I found that the room was unfamiliar; however that didn't matter to me. My thoughts were consumed with far graver things. "Not one of them?" I thought as pain and sorrow screamed within my chest. "But how can that be? I am her son! I am!!"

Anger boiled within me as I began to feel that my entire existence had been a lie. I now questioned what I truly was. How could I possibly ever know the truth? So many lies clouded my way. How was I ever to find her? "Mother…please…tell your son…what is it that I am to you?" I thought with an agonizing sense of abandonment. "Do you even love me? What am I to you? Please mother, I need to know, your son needs to know…What am I?"

My thoughts ruled all of my senses. I didn't care where I was or what was happening. All that I cared about at that moment was knowing the truth. I suppose that's why I didn't hear him coming…

I felt the barrel first and then the all too familiar chill shoot down my spine. How on earth he found his way all the way out here was beyond me. I suppose that even stray dogs have some loyalty. His voice was cold and raspy, choked with both anger and fear when he spoke. "Don't move, A.R.-1," he growled threateningly. "You're coming with me."

I was not in the mood for this whelp. Anger quickly gave way to rage which soon turned to blood lust. I clenched my fist in an attempt to control myself. Through gritted teeth I gave the fool one last warning to release me. He laughed mockingly at me, informing me about how something would freeze over before he ever did that.

"Shut up and get moving, lab rat!" he hissed as he nudged me hard with the barrel of his rifle. "I said you're coming with me! Now get!"

It was my turn to laugh. It was bone chilling, something that would have made my brother Paxton proud. I think I even heard the ATC guard behind me swallow in fear. "No," I hissed, miles upon miles of anger ready to be released. I didn't want to be this thing that Harlan said I was. I wanted to be one of them. I wanted to prove that I was one of them. And at last I was ready. "No…I doubt that very, very seriously…"

I felt the air grow frigid around me, cracking and popping as my anger shifted the atmosphere, warping and distorting it. The lights dimmed in response to the power that now surged through the air, emanating from my body. In a blur and without looking I grabbed the barrel of the rifle and snapped it with the raw edge of my power. The sad little thing shattered, not having stood a chance.

The ATC guard let out a yelp of fear and terror as he desperately tried to back away from me as I turned around to deal with him. I saw him clumsily stumble over a tangled mass of debris. The fool had nowhere to run. I stood between him and the only door. He was mine, all mine.

Darkness swirled around me, stemming from my aura that now screamed for blood. It distorted my vision to the point where I could barely see, but it didn't matter, this wouldn't take long. I raised my hand to deliver the finale, agonizing blow.

I heard the man scream in terror as the world around me grew black. My adrenaline peeked and I lost all sense of feeling. The man's voice faded in the darkness and in one swift movement I let go of my reservations and allowed my anger to flow freely. I heard chaos erupt all around me, screaming, having at last been set free. In a roar the chaos swirled around me, and then, as quickly as it came, it faded into nothingness. Suddenly the world around me grew silent and I become deaf as I was once again thrust into darkness…


	6. Shadows in the Dark

Finally! So sorry guys. I signed on for waaaaaaaaaaaaay to many hours at college and my writing has suffered for it. Once again, I am so sorry. Once again I would like to thank kavnips for his continued loyalty and reviews, and I would also like to thank LollipopDecay for the review. Thanks ever so much guys! I really hope you enjoy chapter six! Please let me know what you think! Enjoy!

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When I awoke I found my brother Paxton standing over me looking bewildered. "Abeo," he asked worry in his voice, "what happened? Are you alright?"

Something seemed odd about his tone. "I'm fine," I answered as I rose up and took a look at my surroundings. It was then that I realized why my brother had sounded so bewildered. The room that I had been in earlier had all but been destroyed. Three of the four walls were blackened and the forth, the one that had formerly contained a window, was completely gone. Half of the room's ceiling had been caved in. Wooden beams littered the charred floor and all of the furniture had been disintegrated.

I stood in awe as I gazed at what remained of the room. How had this happened? I found it hard to believe that I had done all of this. I looked around to try and find another explanation as to what might have happened but all I found was the ATC guard that had held me at gun point earlier, dead on the floor with a single gunshot through his head.

"Paxton, wha-what happened here?" I asked.

"You tell me brother," he replied. "This is how I found you…"

A deathly silence fell upon the room as I stared at the ATC guard's corpse. I walked over closer to it to examine it. I didn't understand how there was a gunshot wound in his head. I had unleashed the full furry of my power, so how was it that his death seemed to be caused by a gunshot wound? I didn't understand.

My brother Paxton sensed my unrest. He walked over to where I sat crouched by the guard's body and placed his hand on my shoulder. "How did it happen?" I asked absentmindedly.

My brother shook his head. "I don't know, Abeo," he said quietly as he looked around at the damage done to the room. "However, it seems…it seems that whatever you unleashed in your rage…must have…frightened him so that he…well…he could no longer withstand it…and…"

"And he killed himself…" I finished for him.

"Yes…" Paxton said. "It would seem so…"

I sighed in aggravation. It seemed that the more I thought about it, the more I denied it, the truer Harlan's words became. Discouragement and doubt swelled up within me allowing a familiarizing pain to return. I clenched my fists in frustration. I didn't want his words to be true, but no matter how hard I tried to recall something to prove him wrong, I never could. All I managed to do was to prove him right over and over again.

I was ripped from my thoughts by the sound of my brother's worried voice calling my name. "Abeo? What's wrong, brother?" he asked. "What happened?"

I could have told him. I should have told him. I thought about telling him. But I didn't; I couldn't…I chose to hold my silence. There was no point in worrying him with something he could do nothing to change, and, perhaps….perhaps I was afraid to tell him, afraid of what he might do or say, afraid of how he might view me, afraid that he might leave me….Yes…I was afraid…I was mortified….Terrified that I might lose my chance to be a part of his family…our family…I didn't want to risk that…I couldn't…I wouldn't….

So I lied….

"Nothing, brother," I said coolly as I tried to regain my composure. "I'm just frustrated with our elder brother's encounter, that's all…Nothing you need worry about…:"

Paxton didn't buy it. Big surprise. But he did let it slide, as if he, in some way, knew what had happened, what had transpired between Harlan and myself. Something about the look in his eyes, his understanding, it almost seemed like recognition, as if he had already known what Harlan had said, about me not being whole, but he did not discuss it, did not mention it; however, I felt a wave of sympathy emit from my brother, and it made me feel even more ashamed then what I already was.

My brother quickly changed the subject. "There's no point in dwelling here any longer, my brother," he said with a smile. "We have what we need."

I lifted my head to meet his gaze. "You found her?" I asked anxiously.

My brother answered with a sly grin and a nod.

"Where is she?" I asked eagerly wanting nothing more than to end this mindless chase and find our mother so that we could all at last have some peace.

"She's this way," he said with a wave of his hand. "I left her in a place I knew she couldn't get out of. We can't have her running away again."

I paused for a moment as I followed my brother. His selection of words was curious. "You-you didn't leave her in the realm of darkness….did you?" I asked knowing full well what would happen if he had.

My brother laughed. "Of course not," he said with a slight grin. "Though it would have been interesting if I had now, wouldn't it?"

I grinned wanly. "Interesting if you want her to be completely useless," I said dryly. "Then again, I suppose such a punishment would be fitting, considering all that she's done, if you think about it."

"My sentiments exactly, brother," Paxton said as he patted me on the back. "Come now, let us go and meet Miss Wade. I dare say I've kept her waiting long enough. I think it's high time she told us what it is we want to know."

I nodded as we faded to darkness and reappeared in another room, similar, in ways, to the one we had been in before, save this one seemed to have no exit. Curious…

Huddled in the middle of the floor sat Miss Wade, nervous and distressed as usual. Upon our arrival she let out a pitiful yelp and scurried across the room in an attempt to put as much distance between us as possible. It was a futile attempt, she had nowhere to run, but, regardless, she tried.

"Relax, Miss Wade," my brother coolly, "we're not going to harm you…yet…" It was then that he grinned, savoring the moment. How he loved this game, interrogation. He was surprisingly good at it too, and he knew it, which only added to his psychotic affect.

I couldn't help but think of how great of a general my brother would have been had ATC's plans played out the way they had wanted them too. He would have been perfect, unstoppable even. Perhaps, I would have been honored to have been his right hand man. That's a funny thought, me, a soldier, in this state. Impossible. But still, one couldn't help but wonder, could they?

My brother walked closer to the terrified Ms Wade. He was trying to add fear to the already terrified woman. It wasn't that hard to do.

"Now tell me, Ms Wade," my brother said in that bone chilling tone he only saved for people he truly, truly despised. "Where are you hiding her?"

I stood in the back ground. He didn't need my help. He could handle this easily.

"Wha-what are y-you talking about?!" she stammered. "Where ar-are we k-keeping wh-who?!"

Paxton grinned menacingly as he paced in front of Miss Wade. For just a moment, he reminded me of a black panther that had cornered its pray, slowly torturing it nearly to death just before he killed it. Interrogation, to him, was an art, and Paxton? Well, he was an artist. Van Gogh would have paled in comparison.

"Now now, Ms Wade," he said with a smile, "it's not nice to lie….We know that you have her location…Why don't you spare yourself the trouble and just tell us where you hid her?"

"But you don't understand!" she shrieked. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

My brother stopped pacing and looked Miss Wade square in the eye, his smile having faded. His patience was wearing thin. Although he usually delighted in such games, he had grown tired of this one long ago. Now all he wished to do was find mother, and find her he would, whether Miss Wade played along willing or not.

In two swift steps my brother had cornered Ms Wade against the wall. His anger was so fierce it was almost tangible. "Do not toy with me, Ms Wade!" he growled. "Now where is she?!"

The only thing the sad little woman could do was let out a strangled shriek. A twinge of pity rose up within me and I decided to intervene. I tentatively walked up to my brother and placed my hand on his shoulder to restrain him from strangling Miss Wade. He turned to me, confused as to what it was I was attempting to do. "Brother, perhaps there is a better way," I said carefully.

"What do you mean?" he asked anger now mixed with confusion. "What is it you're trying to do, Abeo? Are you…are you trying to show her mercy?!"

I sighed. I was afraid he'd think as much. "Brother, you don't understand," I said as I placed my other hand on his shoulder to force him to look me square in the eye. "I care nothing for her. It's you and mother I'm concerned for. But this is taking us too long. It's obvious she doesn't know the location of mother, and if she does then she wasn't aware that mother was there at the time. Please, let's find a different way…"

"What _other way_ is there, brother?!" he hissed as he pushed away from me. "This woman deserves to _die_ for what she did! _They all deserve to die_!!"

He was circling me now, his eyes burning with rage, and for the first time I found myself afraid of my brother, afraid of what he might do to me… "Brother, please!" I said as I desperately tried to get through to my stubborn and proud brother. "I'm not saying that she doesn't, that they don't, I'm simply saying that now is not the time!"

"_And why not?!_" he hissed, his hand dropping quickly to his knife that he always carried by his side. Turning on Miss Wade he held the knife at the ready. "_She's lived long enough! She can still serve her uses dead_! _They all can!_"

With that he lunged at Miss Wade, blade to her throat and shaking dangerously. For reasons unknown to me, I lunged after him, trying to defend her from my brother. I struggled with him for the knife, his strength amplified by his anger.

"Brother, stop!" I grunted as I struggled for the blade. "Now...is not…the TIME!"

The rage I saw in my brother's eyes was unnerving….I had never before seen him in such a state. He was out of control and I feared, I feared that he wouldn't return.

"Paxton put…down…the knife!" I growled as I persisted in my efforts to disarm my brother all the while Miss Wade whimpered and shrieked, being able to little more than beg for her life.

"Let go of me, Abeo!" he hissed as he fought for control of the knife. "Let GO!"

"No, brother, I WON"T!" I retorted. "Put down the knife before you do something that we both regret!"

"Let GO!" he roared as he turned on me, his knife flying towards my face in a silver blur.

It all happened so fast…There was no way I could have moved out of the way in time.

Blinded by rage my brother turned on me and struck me with his jagged, blood stained knife. It tore through my bandages and slashed at my face ripping and tearing at flesh. I felt a warm liquid pour over my face as pain resonated from my right eye socket. Out of instinct I backed away, trying to protect my body from further damage, shielding my eye with my right hand.

The gash was deep and the blood poured like a river, flowing freely from my face. Drops of blood fell to the floor leaving a trail of tiny flecks that would be forever stained into the dirty and worn carpet.

I was blinded for a moment, and was unable to see my brother's initial reaction; however it wasn't long before I heard the sound of his knife clattering to the floor, its sound echoed off the walls in a deafening roar and for a moment, just a moment, it seemed as if time had stopped. Perhaps, for my brother, and myself, it had…

It was the first time he had ever struck me…

"Abeo!" I heard him cry from across the room. I held up my other hand, the one not covering my eye, signaling him to just…stay put…I know that in doing so I hurt him, but it could not be helped…I knew he hadn't meant to hurt me, I knew full well that he would never purposely hurt me, but he had, and I need a moment to recollect myself before I too acted out in rage.

I heard his light footsteps tentatively cross the room, drawing closer to me. I had lowered my arm and was now cradling my face in both of my hands, the gash now burning furiously as cold air rushed into the wound showing no mercy.

"B-brother, I-"Paxton began but I quickly interrupted.

"-I'm fine," I said quickly, hands still covering the wound. I felt Paxton gingerly touch me on the shoulder, not wanting to hurt me further but wanting to survey and tend to the wound. I didn't want to let him look at it because I didn't want him to get more upset then I knew he already was. His emotions had been fluctuating enough lately, I didn't want to add to it.

"Brother, please, let me look at it," he pleaded as he gently tried to pry my hands from my face.

"There's no need," I lied, still covering my wound, still resisting his offers of help. "It's not life threatening…"

"Be that as it may, it needs tending to, please, brother…let me help?" he asked worriedly. His voice was so small and quiet, almost wounded sounding. It broke my heart to hear him talk like that. I didn't want him to destroy himself with guilt.

I heard a noise behind him, but ignored it and retorted with another excuse as to why he didn't need to bother. I, however, was no good at lying, and eventually my brother removed my hands, out of concern, and examined my injuries. It was then that I saw the source of the noise from earlier.

Over my brother's shoulder I saw the frighten figure of Miss Wade leap at the knife and advance toward my brother's turned back. Fear for my brother quickly took over and I forgot my former concern for the woman. Without a second though I blasted the frail woman back with my mother's gift sending her sailing into the wall. She knocked her head against the rotting wooden beams and slid to the floor. My brother had turned as a reflex to my sudden movement. He was enraged at what he saw.

"_Vial woman_!" he hissed through clenched teeth as he swiftly yanked the knife off of the floor. "I knew I should have killed you earlier! Don't you foolish people ever learn?!"

He once again made another aggressive advance toward Miss Wade's dazed body. He yanked her up by her throat and pinned her to the wall. I, again, lunged at my brother before he did something regrettable, and again, an all too familiar scene began to play out.

"Brother, please, not this again!" I warned, hands pulling at his arm that held the knife. "We may need her once we're inside, and if she's already dead, what good will she be to us then?"

My brother turned to me, his face changing from rage to guilt as he gazed at the blood stained bandages covering my face, my hallow eye cavity now revealed to the world. "Just a bit longer, brother," I said as I continued to plead with him. "Just a bit longer…"

Paxton consented, not wanting another scene like the one previous to play out yet again; however his consent was still begrudging, and only for mother and mine's sake.

We both looked down at Miss Wade, our only plausible access to mother. It was for that reason and that reason only that she was valuable. She flinched and whimpered in response, curling up into a tighter heap on the floor as my brother looked at her. He only sneered and walked on ahead, unwilling to look at her out of disgust. It was I that took her by the arm and pulled her up off the floor, leading her after my brother. Just before we faded into ash she whispered something to me.

"Thank you," she said in a small voice.

I felt but a twinge of pity and nothing more. I knew what was going to happen to her. I knew what my brother planned to do to her, but I couldn't find it in me to tell her. A cold feeling washed over me as I looked at her, her blue eyes filled with fear and uncertainty. It's strange to look at someone and know that they're going to die, especially when they themselves have yet to realize it. I wasn't sure how to respond, so I did what was expected of me. No sense in giving her a false hope I suppose.

"You misunderstand," I said coldly. "I did not do it for you. I did it for mother. You're still just our pass card and nothing more, as far as I'm concerned."

She looked at me, confused and hurt, but I think she knew better than to scream at this point, so she kept silent. I turned away and pulled her after unwilling to look into her sad and broken eyes any longer.

"It won't be long now," I kept telling myself over and over in my head. "It won't be long now…."

No, no it wouldn't. The final pieces were at last falling into place. At long last, our mother would be released. At long last we would be united. At long last I would be whole.

After what seemed like an eternity we finally reached the military base beneath the Rammelmeier Compound, but, much to our dismay, we hadn't a clue as to where we should begin. My brother showed his obvious frustration by flipping a rolling table containing many test tubes and beakers over and onto the ground. The glass shattered, its fractured ringing echoing throughout the empty and deserted compound.

I left Mrs. Wade to console my brother. Reaching out for his arm I begged for him to stop before he pushed something that pushed back. In rage he jerked his arm away, not wanting to be consoled but angry. He was past the point of frustration now. Fear and despair welled up within him. He was beginning to lose hope. Yes, we were close, but having been met with failure after failure, my brother was beginning to lose heart.

"Brother, please!" I begged him as he paced angrily around the room trying to contain his rage. "We are almost there, brother! Just a bit more! This nightmare can't last forever!"

My brother glared at me with a look of hurt and rage over his shoulder as he spoke bitter words. "_Can't it though_?!" he cried. "_Can't they just __**make**__ it continue like everything else_?!"

Up until that moment I had been slowly progressing towards my brother, but his words, the tone in his voice, they made me freeze in my tracks. It had finally happened. The events of his past that he had been running from where at long last catching up to him and suddenly everything around him was beginning to unravel.

"Brother, please…" I said comfortingly as I approached him. "Don't do this to yourself…We will find her, brother, you'll see…We won't allow them to continue this nightmare any longer." I had at last reached Paxton. He was holding one hand over his face, trying to fight back tears of rage and frustration. I gently placed my hands on his shoulders and tilted his head so that he would look me in the eye. "We will be reunited, my brother, we will have our revenge. I swear it to you."

Paxton looked at me, pain in his eyes. I knew how much he longed for mother. I knew how much this search meant to him. My words were meant to comfort him, but as he looked at me, a new pain began to reflect in his eyes. I was confused. Was it something I had said? Or had he seen something?

"Brother?" I asked tentatively, worried I would upset him further.

Paxton simply shook his head and looked away for a moment, only for his gaze to quickly return back to me. I was boggled by his behavior until his hands reached for my face gingerly. It was then I knew what it was that was disturbing my brother. My bandages were slashed, my missing eye was now apparent. This troubled my brother, but, it did so on a level I don't think that it should have, at least, not it alone.

His hands gently traced my face as he searched for more signs of abuse. I deeply regretted not rewrapping my wound, seeing as how it troubled him so, but there was something different about all of this, something off. It was as if my brother saw something else in the scars, something that had happened, or maybe, something that had yet to be.

His eyes would move slightly in quick, rapid movements, as if something was playing out before his eyes. "Brother?" I called out to him, worried to let whatever it was that was going on inside his mind continue. "Brother, are you alright?"

"What have they done to you, my brother?" he asked as his eyes met my worried gaze. "What have those monsters done to you?"

My eyes drifted down, unwilling to meet my brother's pained gaze. "It's irrelevant, my brother," I said quietly, trying to repress all of the flooding memories that were now trying to crawl their way to the surface of my thoughts. My hands quickly grabbed hold of the tattered remains of the bandages and returned them to their former state as best they could. "It's in the past, and all of that has changed. We need no longer be concerned with it."

"Irrelevant?" He asked, his face contorted in a look of disbelief as to how I could say such things. "How can you say-?!"

My brother's gaze had drifted to something behind me. I turned and saw Miss Wade in yet another feeble attempt to escape. She wasn't very good at it, though I suppose we should try keeping a better eye on her.

"Freeze, wench!" My brother hissed. Needless to say, she stopped on the spot. My brother strode past me to go after the woman, and I began to find myself almost thankful that she had done what she had when she had. Reaching out my brother grabbed her arm tightly. Miss Wade winced in response. "Do not attempt that again!" he warned as a siren began to sound within the complex.

My brother looked at me, confusion on his face. I mirrored his image as I looked for the source. Red lights began flashing within the compound and I began to feel my heart racing as a weight began to grow in the pit of my stomach. Circular shaped ports began to open in the ceiling and I had a sinking feeling that they weren't connect to the fire extinguishing system.

"B-brother…!" I cried worriedly as I began to see more and more ports opening around the room.

I heard my brother shift nervously as he too searched around the room finding several other circular openings in the ceiling. He hissed as large gun turrets began to emerge from the darkness of their steel confinements. Quickly, too quickly, the guns extended into firing position and began revving up. In a flash a sea of gun fire began to rain down upon us as the turrets came to life, tearing through steel and glass as they began to demolish the room around us.

Neither had time to warn the other, all we could do was run and hope and pray that the other was alright. The roar of gun fire was deafening, making calling out impossible. I had dove into an adjacent room nearby and now hid by the door arch, daring as much as I could to look out and try to catch a glimpse of Paxton to see if he was alright.

Hundreds of bullets tore through the air, desperately searching for a target, ripping and slashing through anything and everything they came in contact with. The bullets ricocheted off the walls and tables and anything else they touched. Chaos roared on just a few feet in front of me, but I had to find my brother, I had to know if he was ok. I attempted to use the realm of darkness when something very strange happened.

It was the strangest feeling I had ever experienced, laced with an unbearable pain. I felt as though I was being ripped in two, half of me in the realm of darkness, and the other stuck in reality. The world around me blurred and began to spin violently out of control and in seconds I found myself on the floor drenched in a cold sweet. I had moved little more than an inch.

Bewildered, I quickly looked around for some explanation but found none. Deciding that I didn't have time for this, I rose to my feet, shaking off the pain that I had experienced only moments ago. I carefully positioned myself in the archway of the door, trying to get as far out of the room as I could without actually being "out of the room" for the room was the only thing within thirty feet that could be used for cover.

I tentatively stuck my head just outside the archway to try and look around. I was nearly hit by a stray bullet, but not before having at last spotted my brother. He, and the terrified and trembling Miss Wade, were both alive and well in a room that was unfortunately too far away for one to make a mad dash and live to tell the tale. They, like myself, were huddled just beyond the door archway. Paxton had a look of both anger and fear etched in the lines of his face as he too tried to crane his neck out of the door to fine me.

I wanted to call to him, to cry out his name and tell him that I was ok and to put his blasted head back in the room before it got shot off. But I couldn't, the roar of the eight plus security turrets wouldn't dream of allowing me such a luxury. So I decided to improvise.

Bullets were tearing apart the rooms in which we hide, the blasted turrets having thermal imaging detectors in them. They knew where we were, and they were picking away at our only means of defense little by little. The room where my brother hid was especially drawing fire, seeing as how he had the misfortune of having the trembling Miss Wade in there with him.

Little by little the turrets picked away at the rooms, slowly devouring them in their gun smoked rage. Something had to be done. These walls, however sturdy, wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. I at last decided to act.

Summoning the rage that my heart felt from seeing my brother shot at, I dashed out into the no man's land that separated the two rooms, miraculously avoiding being shot. I called upon the blood boiling, bone chilling hatred that my heart had learned from this vile place, and in one roar of defiance, unleashed it upon the eight plus turrets.

The raw edge of my hatred pierced through the turrets as though they were made of nothing more than rice paper, seemingly devouring them as it tore through the room, ripping and slashing at anything misfortunate enough to be in its path. Several lights exploded along with the turrets, revealing a bright display and a sea of sparks only to dissolve into darkness. The metal ceiling groaned in protest of my actions. It moaned and cried out its aggravations only to quickly allow its complaints to fade into a haunting echo.

I staggered where I stood, groping for something to balance myself with as my head begin to spin from the use of excess power. I felt something drawing closer to my right. I turned to see my brother running towards me. His mouth was moving, signaling my brain that he was speaking; however my ears did not receive such a stimulus, causing my brother's words to be lost in a haze. His face, however, looked aggressive, but worried, as if there was a threat. But…the threat was gone….at least, so I thought…

Seconds later I felt two sharp and cold prongs pierce my neck followed by a surge of massive pain and wide spread shock that flooded through my body causing me to collapse to the floor. I had been injected with two metal prongs from a taser gun, whose voltage continued to course through my body, causing me to convulse on the ground not far from my brother's feet. In his rage, my brother pulled out his knife on my assailant.

I heard a noise behind me. Shortly after I saw three pairs of feet land in front of me and charge after my brother, him with his knife, the assailants with their guns. The electrocution had stopped, but the moment I twitched to try and aid my brother, it began again in full force. I howled in pain as the battle began to play out in front of me.

My brother was out numbered. My brother was out gunned, out matched. They had the equipment, the ability, but they lacked one important thing, those soldiers that challenged my brother. They lacked his hatred, his rage. And that is why they never stood a chance. The three soldiers rushed at my brother, assuming that no gun fire was needed, confident that their training would be enough, but they were wrong, horribly, horribly wrong.

My brother carved his blade through the first one's throat with a simple side lung, landing on the outside of the soldier's lead foot, safely away from his gun's barrel. He then grabbed the soldier by his shoulder as the poor fool bled out through his throat in seconds. He then turned the dead soldier away from his body and used him as a human shield to rush the other two stunned soldiers.

Paxton then threw the dead body at the soldier directly in front of him and then lunged at the other, stabbing him in his jugular. He collapsed to the floor instantly and with a few quick convulsions, passed on as his partner continued to struggle with the first corpse that lay on top of him.

The last soldier finally managed to shrug off the corpse and quickly rose to his feet, but not quickly enough. Paxton was there to greet him with his blade with a deep gash tearing through the man's abdomen, spilling its contents onto the steel floor with a sickly sloshing noisy followed by the loud thud of the man's body.

In spite of the pain, I found myself smiling. My brother was unstoppable, and these men were about to pay dearly for this assault. His movements were so fluid, so majestic. He was one of the few that could make death look like an art form. When it came to destruction, my brother Paxton had inherited the gene from our mother, and he had mastered it well.

Now, it was pay back.

….Or so I had thought…..

A shot rang out from behind me, and, to my horror, I saw my brother's face contort with pain as his knife clamored to the floor, blood spewing from his hand furiously. I tried to move to him, to help him, but my actions were rewarded with a stronger volt of electricity, and, once again, the convulsions started back up, this time stronger than before. I wasn't sure how much more I could take. I thought I was going to black out, but I couldn't allow it, not until I knew Paxton was safe.

Paxton tried to reach me, to help me, to stop the torture I felt, but I heard a rush of footsteps followed by my brother screaming to be released. At last the electrocution stopped and I was able to turn my head to see my brother. He was being held down by four men clad in a dark colored, soldier's uniform.

"Contain him!!" one of the soldiers cried as he ran into view from behind me.

And contain my brother they did. They wrestled with my brother until fatigue won him over. The four men were just simply too strong from my brother to fend them all off at once. Panic rose up within me. I couldn't allow this to happen. I had to do something! But my body, it was so weak, I couldn't move. I tried, in spite of the pain, to stir, to stand, but it was to no avail, my body would not comply till it received the medicine it needed to heal its injuries.

With a swift movement the soldier that had ordered for my brother's containment was behind Paxton. He quickly raised the stock of his gun at a forty-five degree angle with the backside of my brother's neck and brought it down hard across its nape. My brother quickly fell into darkness as rage rose up within me. No one, NO ONE, struck MY BROTHER!

I awoke from a rage induced trance and found myself on my feet striding towards the soldiers. My breathing was ragged, my muscles tense, my rage boiling. I was suddenly behind the soldier that had struck my brother. He turned, sensing someone behind him for no alarm had been raised by the others. Somehow my presence had gone unnoticed. He gasped, trying to yell out some form of order, no doubt, but I did not let him finish. I returned the gesture he had shown my brother with a blast from my fist to the left side of his face.

The soldier tumbled to the ground, the clatter alerting the others that I was up and moving. More soldiers, three I think, clamored out of the darkness and tried to restrain me. I fought, I struggled, but they were far stronger than I. I still tried though, not willing to take no for an answer.

One of the soldiers, the one with the taser, walked over to the one on the ground and helped the disoriented man up to his feet. "Sir, what is it you want us to do with this one?" he said with a gesture in my direction.

Sir, for lack of anything else to call him, rubbed his chin tenderly. "Leave him, he is of no threat to us," he said. "His casualty record is nil. It's the other we should be worried about."

A flash of a face ran across my mind. The scientist that had overheard Paxton and I in the med bay, I had killed him. Joy swelled up within me as I realized Harlan had been wrong; I was not so different from my brothers. I had taken one life, however insignificant. "Tell that to the family of the dead scientist in the med bay," I hissed.

Sir turned to me, pausing for a moment as he processed my words, and then laughed mockingly. "The security tape says otherwise, oh arrogant one," he said with a grin.

Confusion swelled within me. What was that suppose to mean? What security tape? And more importantly, what was on it that he had seen that indicated otherwise? Paxton and I were the only ones in the room and my brother had stood behind me the entire time. He had even praised my actions. How was it that we had both seen something else?

Sir walked over to my brother and lifted his head to examine him. Rage swirled violently within me. I didn't like these people messing with my brother. What happened next enraged me even more.

My brother was conscious now. He looked up at the one I referred to as Sir. Sir laughed mockingly upon seeing him awaken. "Well, well, rise and shine sleeping beauty," he said. "We have some questions for you."

Paxton only chuckled. "What makes you think I'm going to cooperate with pompous cannon fodder like you?" he said.

Sir was not amused. He took the stock end of his gun and pelted my brother in the jaw.

That was the last straw! I had had enough! In a roar of rage I tried to break myself free from my captors, but I wasn't strong enough. Struggled as I did, I barely got one leg free and the moment I did I received the same treatment as my brother, save mine was to the back of the head.

I crashed to the floor and was quickly met with more resistance, the taser from before. Once again surges of electricity rushed through my body. I screamed as I began to convulse on the floor. I lost all sense of those around me and the room began to feel as though it was pulsing…almost as if…

Almost as if it had a heart beat…

Static roared over my COM only to confirm my thoughts. The lights, what was left of them, began to sway, their light pulsing on and off as they rocked back and forth.

……She was coming….

…..And she was not happy….


	7. The Lies Beneath

Horribly sorry for the wait guys. College got a little intense there for a bit. Again I would like to thank kavinps, and LollipopDecay for their reviews and all of those who have added my story to their favorites or alert lists! Your support keeps me going in times of complete and utter writers block. But enough waiting, seeing as how I've made you guys do more than your fair share of that. Here is chapter 7! Please read, review, and, most importantly, enjoy!

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The carnage she inflicted, words cannot describe. The beast that she had summoned was…atrocious, unlike anything I had ever seen and I had seen quite a few…_things_…to say the very least…

It tore through the soldiers with no mercy, painting the room with their blood. Not one wall was spared. Not a single panel was left unstained. So much blood, so much death, it chilled me to the bone…Never had I seen such destruction, such…death…not even in my wildest fantasies…

Funny, oh so funny how when the things we dream about…obsess about are right before us, and yet suddenly we find we no longer want them, no longer lust for them. Suddenly that desire vanishes as if it were nothing but smoke and ash dancing in the wind. And then we suddenly find ourselves repulsed by them, disgusted by the very thought of them…Only then do we find ourselves scared, fearful, as we finally see the beast within and wonder how in the world such a creature could possibly come from within us…

Oh yes, yes, how I could see it now, and how I was terrified by it. I loved my mother and my brother with all my heart, truly I do, but to see that thing summoned by the urgings of my wrath…it did something to me, something I can't explain…something I'm not sure I'll recover from…

The beast tore through their flesh, melted their bones, splattered their blood across the floor, ceiling, the walls, everything, yet, somehow, not a drop touched Paxton, nor myself. Our mother was strange like that I found. She'd slay a thousand men without hesitation, even in front of her own children without a second thought, but to let one hair on our heads be harmed, to let one drop of blood defile our faces…no…That would simply not due.

I thought the screams of the dying would never stop. They rang on and on, crying out endlessly, mournfully, screaming for mercy, for help, for a quicker death at least…but no. The creature would not bring them their wish. It raged on and on, slaughtering the whole lot, not sparing a one. It killed them slowly, slashing furiously at their chests, their throats, anything its mutated claws could reach. It tore at them, dismembered them, ravaged them, finding ways to kill them that would shame even my brother's methods. It would take one leg, only to let them wallow and squirm on the ground in their feeble attempts to flee.

My stomach churned within me as the beast tore at the rest till nothing was left but a gory mess…I could not tell which was worse, the abominations that laid splattered across the entire room, or the one that hovered only a few feet from me.

It was so…grotesque, this creature, our protector summoned from the depths of the infinite darkness. Mutated and warped, it bore sores and open wounds across its entire body. The only reason the torso was distinguishable from the lower regions was due to the uncannily long arms and legs the beast possessed. Its upper body was twisted unnaturally, jutting out vulgarly only to curve back into its sickly frame. Its neck stretched forward, not upward, and its head was…small…compared to the rest of the body, but its features were so horribly maimed that I could tell you little else, except for its gapping jaw, with thousands upon thousands of needle like teeth which were now laced with the blood and flesh of our attackers.

It was over, the men were dead, all of them. How many there were, I could no longer tell. The beast made it impossible to distinguish the bloody masses as either bodies or simply body parts. Its task completed the beast turned and gazed at me. Its face lacked eyes, I think, but I could still feel a piercing gaze strike me, search me, look through me. There was power in its presence, and, in that moment, I found myself awe struck, both fearful and amazed by its form.

A vibration began to resonate within my head, a piercing sound, crawling throughout my skull. My vision began to blur until it finally failed me entirely and I faded into darkness. The noises began to form words within my mind, rasping and screeching, its voice husky and hallow. It spoke ambiguously, making little to no sense as its words echoed throughout my mind.

"_WhY dO YoU dOubT?"_

Doubt? I did not doubt. Nor did I regret. What did this creature mean I wondered?

"_WhY dO YoU dOubT?"_ it inquired again.

"I do not," I said boldly.

"_If yoU dO nOt dOubT, tHeN wHy dOeS hE nO lOnGer sLEeP_?"

"…he?" It made no sense. Whom did it speak of?

Before I could find my voice to answer, I awoke, and the beast was gone. I rolled over on my side. Every inch of me ached. I felt like I had been pulled apart and hastily, sloppily, put back together again. My vision finally stable, I began to stir. It was at that time I heard a groan, pained and groggy. Upon realizing that the groan had not come from my own lips, I hastily turned to find my brother Paxton stirring slightly not fifteen feet from me.

I rushed over to my brother, calling his name in an attempt to wake him. Once I reached him I lifted his head and gently shook him to try and bring him back to consciousness. For a brief moment he was unresponsive, but after a few more tries he finally awoke, much to my racing heart's relief. His eyes fluttered opened and then quickly surveyed his surroundings, as if he had forgotten where he was. He then glanced up at me, puzzled, before recognition finally set in.

"Are you alright?" I asked him worriedly.

He smiled wanly. "I should be asking you that," he said with a half smile.

I frowned, un-amused by his antics, but touched by his concern. "I'm fine, brother, I assure you," I said comfortingly as I stroked my brother's head, trying to relieve the migraine he so poorly hide from me. "How is your head, my brother? You took quite a hit back there…And your hand….it's still bleeding…"

I reached for my brother's hand in an attempt to survey the damage, but he brushed me aside. "I'm fine, Abeo," he said as he rose to a sitting position and surveyed the aftermath of the beast. He nodded approvingly, pleased by what he saw, and deep within me, I felt my stomach lurch. Apparently, I did not hide it well, for my brother gave me a puzzling look. "Something the matter, brother?"

"N-nothing," I replied, the warning sensation deep within my gut still churning furiously. "It's just…I've…never seen this much…blood before." The word alone nearly triggered the all too familiar, unpleasant response.

Paxton rubbed my back, trying to soothe the sickness that threatened me from within. My hands began to tremble, and I knew what my body wanted in response to its obedience. I slid my hand into the blood stained lab coat from the man I had, presumably, "not killed", and pulled out the drug to which my body seemed to be so joyously enslaved to.

I heard my brother make a disgruntled retort deep within his throat as I injected myself with the drug. It swept furiously through my bloodstream, burning at my veins as it surged throughout my body. It wasn't long before the shakes had stopped and my tentative stomach became satisfied for the time being.

Paxton had gotten to his feet and now stood in front of me, surveying the mass of dead soldiers that lay before us. I took my place beside him and joined him in the dismal observation. It was my brother who broke the silence that now stood between us. "I wish you didn't have to do that…" he said solemnly.

"As do I, brother," I said with a slight smile. "But I enjoy breathing, so I'm not left with much choice."

Paxton scowled further as he looked out at the mass of dead bodies. I could tell he was thinking of them again. It wasn't hard. Any fool could see how he hated those who had made us, loathed them with every fiber of his being. "One day, one day soon, they will pay," he said darkly. "They will all pay...Mother will fix this wretched mess they've made, you'll see."

I placed my hand on my brother's shoulder, trying to bring him back to our current situation. "I know brother," I said reassuringly, "I know."

And then, it dawned on me…

Where in the world was Alice Wade?

I frantically began searching for her. How careless could we be, I wondered. Not twice but three, three times she had escaped us. Apparently our lineage was not blessed with quick cognitive learning skills. My brother, having finally realized what it was that I was doing, joined in the search. Had one of the soldiers taken her? No…no, we would have heard that, she would have made us. Did the creature get her? No, no, we would have heard that too….

That left only one possible solution…As I looked up, my suspicions were confirmed.

There, upon the last functioning security monitor, ran a timid blonde haired young woman, frantically trying to find a place to hide. My brother and I both let out a long, aggravated sigh.

"Shall you or shall I?" I asked him as we both gawked at the monitor wondering how much "dumb luck" one girl could possibly have.

"_We_ shall," was his stern reply. "If I go alone I'm liable to obliterate her," he continued in a dry voice strained with anger. "And I'm not leaving you alone…"

I turned to my brother and smiled. In a joking and playful manner I tried to relieve the tension. "Worried I'll wonder off and find mother before you do?" I asked.

My brother did not find my antics humorous. He merely gave me a dark glare, telling me to not joke of such things. I complied by lowering my head and looking off. It would seem that my brother was not in the mood right now.

Quickly changing the subject, I tried to recover from my earlier folly by averting my attention back to the monitor. "It would seem that Miss Alice is heading towards the security room…" I said as I watched the young girl's timid figure dart across the screen.

"Hmm…yes, it would seem so…" Paxton mused. "I'll send the Replicas after her."

I found myself fidgeting at his words. The words that the other soldiers had spoken still bothered me…_"The security tape says otherwise." _

I know I had killed that man. I had felt his throat collapse in my hands. How was it then that this brash little soldier thought otherwise? He had mentioned security tapes…I would like to get a hold of these "security tapes" and see for myself. I looked up at my brother, who was now looking at me, trying to read my thoughts.

"Abeo, what are you thinking about?" He asked. "Something's troubling you…what is it?"

I had only halfway heard him. My mind was still rummaging through the dead soldier's ambiguous words. It was only due to the echo chamber effect, I think, that I heard him at all. "Hmm?" I asked, having at last realized he had said something.

My brother was not pleased by my response, not angry, concerned. "Abeo, what's troubling you so?" he asked in a manner that warned against lying, for he was prepared for an evasion. In spite of this, the thought of doing so still had crossed my mind. This fact was apparently evident for it was met with an even deeper scowl from my brother and even more resistance.

"It's…" I sighed as I spoke, feeling ridiculous for even mentioning it. "It's really nothing, brother…"

Paxton snorted in retort. "Truly?" he said dryly. "Then why are you fidgeting so, dear brother? Are you concerned about something or have you developed a nervous twitch recently?"

His words were harsh, true, but harsh. The words escaped my lips before they passed through my mind. "Ouch…"

Paxton's face contorted solemnly. "Brother I didn't mean-"

I cut him off, no point in letting him finish, for, as always, he was right. "It's alright, my brother," I said, trying not to let the ache and worry from the words of the soldier and Harlan himself seep through. I felt like I was losing myself, but, in order to do that, I would have had to have known myself at one point, and now I wasn't sure if I ever really had…

I was brought back to reality by a firm embrace from my brother. Bewildered, but touched by his actions, I found I couldn't relinquish, but at the same time, couldn't embrace. I stood there stunned by the suddenness of it all. I wanted to break down, to sob and tell him everything that I had been told, every piece of confusing and self-doubt inflicting shred of information, but I found that I couldn't. The words simply would not come.

My brother could sense my anguish, of that I am certain, but to the degree he did I could not have known had he not voiced it. "Abeo, my brother, please! Please speak to me!" he begged. "I can see it, see the emotion raging beneath the false calm you portray but I can't understand it! I can't see its origin, its reason! I can't read you! Tell me, brother! Tell me what it is that ails you so and, believe me, brother, I will end it! One word, my brother, and I will end it all!"

Words cannot honor, nor thank my brother for what he had said. I was speechless. I couldn't think of what to do or say, so I simply allowed my head to rest in the nook of my brother's neck. He placed his hand on the back of my head, trying to reassure me, to comfort me, to let me feel safe from whatever it was that was threatening me. Such a simple action brought me such overwhelming peace. But, in spite of this, the words, the answers to the questions my brother so desperately sought would not come.

"…Brother?"

"Yes, Abeo?"

"I, I just need to…check something….see for myself…" It was the only answer I could give him, but, surprisingly, for my brother, that was enough. It was enough if that was what I felt I needed.

"If that will help you, my brother, then please do so," he said as he tightened his embrace before releasing me.

I gazed at my brother, incomprehensible gratitude surging throughout my slowly mending heart. How one such as I could have done something to deserve such adoration was beyond me.

And, without another word, we were off to the security room. My brother, one of his many gifts was the ability to, as he said, "taste" lies, but I think it was more than that. He had the ability to see what lay hidden beneath the service, true intentions, true feelings, and trace them back to their core, to the reason they existed, to the thoughts connected to them. He could see it all. And yet, in spite of this, he could not do so with me. He couldn't make sense of the surge of emotions, couldn't trace them backwards. He had later explained that they were so thoroughly intertwined that he couldn't trace them back to a source. He said that they were simply lost within themselves.

I could only wonder what that meant. Perhaps the security room would hold an answer. I could only hope.

After a while of leg work, we at last reached the security room. It was large, filled with computers, TV monitors, and enough cables to, as my brother so protested after having gotten caught in one, "strangle everyone here." I couldn't help but laugh, but, whether I was laughing more at his comment or the sight of him tangled up, I'm not sure. A disturbance on the monitor, however, quickly put the joking aside.

On the upper most left security monitor, an image of the young Miss Alice dashed across the screen. My brother observed the surroundings in the line of view of the security camera and configured a general idea of where she was, how, I'll never know. To me, everything in this building looked the same.

I quickly turned my eye to the monitors that watched over the laboratory that my brother and I had been in much, much earlier. The dead scientist still laid there, terror forever frozen on his face. I walked closer to the monitor to scrutinize it further, but, as I approached, something strange happened, something that even caught my brother off guard. Before I could touch the disk to which the scene of the lab tech's death was recorded too, the footage began to rewind itself. It started right in place, as if it had simply been waiting.

I should have been troubled by this, as my brother was, but I was too eager to see it, too eager to, as I hoped, prove that blasted soldier wrong.

…Fate, again, chose not to fall in my favor…

Much to my horror, there, on the video that played out before me, there I sat crouched directly in front of the man. My hands were both placed around his lab coat collar and, surprisingly, there they stayed. Even as the man began to choke, or so I presumed he was, my hands remained firmly clasped on his collar. Not once did I touch anything other than his collar…

It didn't make sense…I had felt his throat break beneath my strength…I had felt him die…but then why was this _thin_g showing me that I had not?

I clenched my fists in frustration. Surely this had to be some kind of mistake, some kind of trick! I know what I saw, what I had heard! My brother had praised me for having done so, for having killed the man! Why was it then that this blasted tape spat lies?! Why was it showing otherwise?

My brother had moved beside me and, having sensed my rising frustration, placed his hand on my shoulder. I jumped, startled by his actions. I had not heard him move. "What is it, my brother?" he asked, seemingly confused by my reaction. "What's troubling you?"

I could barely believe the words that came from his mouth. I had to pause before I spoke to keep from letting my feelings flow over into my words. "I don't understand this tape," I said, choosing to look at the monitor because, for some reason I'm not entirely certain of, I found it hard to look at my brother at that moment.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I fidgeted as I spoke for I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "It's just-"I had to pause. I was confused as to why Paxton was not as shocked as I. He had been there, after all. He should know that there was something wrong with this recording. "Brother, do you remember the lab tech, the one in this room here?" I asked as I pointed to the monitor that was now looping the footage over and over again. My brother nodded in compliance, though he looked somewhat confused as to why I was asking.

"I remember, brother," he said. "Why do you ask?"

Stress continued to rise within me. Why was this flaw not obvious to him? He was usually the one that picked up on these things. "Doesn't…doesn't something seem…odd to you…about this tape?" I asked, struggling to find the right words.

Paxton turned his head to face the monitor and watched the footage several times. My brother had a particular look on his face when he was truly inspecting something, which was, usually, comforting, but not this time. This time it was nerve racking. "No," he said, much to my horror. "No, there's nothing wrong with this footage. Why are you asking? Is there something particular that concerns you?"

My body was fidgeting more so now then I had seen it do so in a long time. My brother was beginning to pick up on it too. I was distraught by the news but, something seemed so unnatural about all of this. Something wasn't right.

"Brother," I said softly, "you may think me crazed but…I could have sworn…"

My voice trailed off. I was almost afraid to ask in fear that he would think me mad. "Could have sworn what, Abeo?" Paxton asked me, concern in his voice. He was facing me know. I could feel his eyes staring into the side of my head. I still found, however, that, for some unknown reason, I didn't want to look at him, which was beginning bothering me as much as this blasted tape was.

"Brother, I thought I had killed that lab tech…" There. I had at last said it. Now to brace for impact…

My words were met with silence. My brother's gaze had not lifted, only intensified. It was galling! I felt like he was boring a hole through my very skull. How I wished he would stop! "Brother…" he began, his voice strained with a strange tone I had not heard before. "You never touched the lab technician…He…he died of a heart attack…I thought I had told you this…"

The words stung worse than the taser I had experienced earlier. I actually flinched at them, noticeably so. I thought he had praised me, what was it then that he had said?

My brother had seen me recoil. I could feel panic rise within him. "Abeo?" he asked worriedly. "Abeo, what's wrong? What is it?"

"But I thought-"a strange sensation rose up within me. My face felt hot suddenly, hot and wet…I think…I think I was almost at tears…I just felt as if, as if something in me was dying…Or perhaps, perhaps I felt that my chance at this, at this family, was dying…If this wasn't true, what else wasn't? Harlan's words haunted me…Had he been right, all along? _"It's as if you're not one of them…"_

"You thought what, Abeo?"

I glanced nervously at my brother.

"Abeo, talk to me," my brother pleaded.

"You'd think I'm crazy," I replied.

"Abeo, look at me!" he barked. I jumped and hastily complied. "Who on earth do you think I am? You say you thought that you had killed the lab technician, why? I told you it was just as well that he died on his own. There was no need in you soiling your hands with the likes of him. Don't you remember me saying that to you?"

I shook my head. No, no I did not remember that…I had heard words much different, words of praise, not condolence. My brother knew what I was thinking. He reached over to the monitor and turned on the audio clip to the tape. Suddenly I heard the muffled sound of my brother's voice emitting from the speakers. "It's just as well, my brother," I heard the recording, "You needn't sully your hands with the likes of him. He isn't worth our time…"

I must have looked ill, for my brother rushed over to me and eased me down in a chair. "Abeo?" he called. "Abeo, can you hear me? Tell me brother, please, what is it you thought you saw?"

For a moment, I found myself unable to answer. I watched as the tape played over and over, the echo of my brother's voice now accompanying it. The picture began to become distorted, but whether that was my vision's doing or something else's I neither knew, nor cared. All I could think about was how this could not be happening.

With eyes filled with confusion and fear, I looked up at my brother. He met my gaze and slowly began to realize what I now knew. Something was horribly, horribly wrong with me…

Almost as if on cue, the frightened figure of Alice Wade dashed across one of the other monitors. The sudden movement caught my brother's attention. I heard him hiss with aggravation as he acknowledged the disturbance. He knew she was heading into dangerous territory, testing grounds, defense systems. If we were to let her continue we would find it hard to re-capture her. She would undoubtedly lock herself in a testing facility filled with turrets, weapons systems, and who knows what else. Armacham contained many devices that we knew little to nothing about. For all we knew, they had a device that could dampen our abilities, making reaching Miss Wade near impossible.

I knew he had to leave before he turned and gave me one of the most pained looks I've ever seen him express. "Abeo-"

I cut him off with a raise of my hand. He needn't say it. I knew what he had to do. No sense in forcing him to admit something he didn't want to. "I understand, brother," I said as I tried my best to put forth a believable smile. "You go on ahead, brother. I'll catch up."

Paxton paused, not wanting to leave me behind, but he knew this was important, important to me. That and I think he was beginning to fear what I was beginning to fear. Either A, I was losing my mind, or B, Armacham was up to something, something…well, you get the picture…

To my surprise, he didn't argue. "Be careful, brother, and keep in touch," was all he said. With a tap on his COM to remind me to radio if anything were to come up, he was out the door. I barely had a chance to tell him to be careful as well. I think I saw him smile as he looked back over his shoulder.

My brother was something else entirely…

When Paxton was out of sight, I once again approached the monitor. The clip continued to play, but a new haze had begun to fall upon the recording. My brother's voice echoed quietly over the speakers, melting into the background. The clip continued to play on, but, as I watched, something began to appear in the background.

It was fuzzy at first and hard to make out. Little by little, however, it became clearer. In the bottom left corner of the screen, not six feet from where the image of myself crouched, appeared another figure. Something about it was off though. It was as if I could see it, and yet, see right through it. It distorted the images just beyond it, warping them, almost, bending them. It made no sense.

As I squinted against the glare of the screen, the image began to move. It was slow, at first, and it was hard to tell which part of the imaged was actually moving. I took a brief glance at both the images of my brother and I, only to find that neither one of them moved. It was as if they, we, were unaware of the thing that stood beside us.

Suddenly, the imaged stopped its movement. It remained motionless for several minutes, not moving in the slightest. I leaned forward, trying to get a better look. My face was only inches from the screen when the image suddenly moved. In a blur, the image whirled around and, with blood red eyes, stared back at me. I jumped and fell backwards, startled by the suddenness of it all. Even as I lay sprawled out on the floor, the image continued its relentless stare until, suddenly, the monitor phased out and the image was lost.

Perhaps it was only a minor incident, but my heart thought otherwise. It hammered away in my chest as a strange nagging feeling warned me to leave. As if to fortify this fear, the monitors began to turn on, one after another, by themselves, all displaying the same image, the image of me somewhere in the compound, half unconscious on the floor as four ATC guards began to circle me. That was when mother had saved me. But something was in the background, something I hadn't noticed during the incident.

Again, the almost translucent, hazy image of an unknown figure formed in the archway just beyond the ATC guards. Again it stared at my figure lying on the floor before lifting its gaze to me, almost making eye contact as I hovered over the security monitor. Suddenly the image began to distort, as if the data was corrupting. Things were beginning to move quickly. Another image now overlapped the current image, distorting them both drastically. Somehow, I was able to still see one of the images.

This image was new…It was familiar…Squinting against the distortion, as though I thought it would help, I began to make out two images. One was an ATC guard, moving in on someone with his gun raised. I then recognized the situation as one that had transpired not too long ago. It was right after my conversation with Harlan Wade. I had appeared back in the hotel, angry and confused. Then that idiot showed up, threatening me, telling me how he was going to be the one to drag me back to that retched place. I had laughed then and I laughed now. Fool. I remember letting my anger go, releasing all restraints. Then all I remembered was passing out. The image, however, continued to play out what I had not seen.

After my image fell to the floor something that resembled a heat disturbance appeared on screen, spinning around me in a violent whirlwind. It flexed outward only to condense back into a tight form that hovered only a few feet from the bewildered ATC guard. The guard raised his gun, mouth moving, yammering out some hollow threat no doubt, but the creature seemed to not care. It advanced towards him as blood pools formed on the floor, and, as I watched, something began crawling out from them.

I continued to watch attentively, even as the image began to fade and fail, I watched on with eager eyes. The forms had fully emerged from the blood pools now. Crumpled, crippled masses that were once bodies staggered towards the ATC, their vest bearing the same acronym as his.

"So that's why he did it," I thought to myself, remembering how the guard had taken his own life. As I watched, the masses swarmed around the ATC guard who was frantically firing his gun trying to kill that which could no longer be killed. My eyes began to wonder for the translucent mass. It stood just beyond the horrid scene, as if overseeing all that transpired, until at last, the scene had played out as intended, and the guard was dead, dead by his very own gun.

Static emerged over my COM as the picture began to distort beyond recognition. Try as I may, I could no longer distinguish the figure. It blurred and fizzled out in a sea of static before the monitors cut off all together.

It was then that I saw it…

In the reflection of the darkened monitor stood a form, hovering just beyond in the door way. As it stood motionless in the archway, it stared at me, inspecting me from a far.

I froze, panic taking control of my body as I carefully observed the form on the monitor. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as a voice inside of me told me to run, to flee from this being's presence. I knew he was there, even though all I could see was his reflection, I knew he was there, physically there.

He was not like the others. He was not simply another phantom, nor was he a ghoul or a specter. No, he was something else entirely…something new…And something deep inside of me…

…didn't like it…

I whirled around, ready to strike. Only then did I find that the figure was gone, vanished, as if nothing had ever been there to begin with. Bewildered, I stood puzzled for a moment, unsure of what to do next. I carefully eased my way over to the doorway, taking a quick glance back at the monitor as I did so. The monitor no longer held the reflection of the image. It too was blank. As I turned my eyes back to the doorway, I half expected to see him again, and for a minute, I thought I did, a blur, then nothing. Much to my relief, it was all in my head. At least…I think it was…

As I reached the doorway I felt that urethral presence, that feeling I get when one of our kind is near. It was electric, that feeling. It sent every nerve in my body into a frenzy. They fired madly, reacting violently to the disturbance. Whatever it was they sensed, they did not like it either.

I eased my way out into the hallway. All was deathly quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the deafening echo of my footsteps as I walked down the empty halls. The hallway I treaded down was dark and void of anything except the urethral presence from before.

It was heavy, that presence, heavy as it hovered all around, creeping in from every crevice in the building. As I walked, the weight of the unseen presence grew even stronger. With each passing step it became harder to breath, my heart seemingly catching in my throat.

The lights began to dim as I at last drew near the end of bleak and dismal hallway. I squinted against the darkness that surrounded me, catching a glimpse of something just beyond it. A door, there was a door at the end of the hallway. Engulfed in darkness and echoing with foreboding, it stood ominously closed, silent, except for the dismal taint of a dare, a dare for its seal to be broken.

A voice inside me told me to run…but a louder voice inside told me to keep going…I hesitated for a moment, contemplating.

Another voice whispered from behind the door, tauntingly, beckoning me to proceed.

…_Abeo_……_Abeo…_

The voice was deep, vaguely familiar but…something about it was…off…

I eased towards the door, carefully closing the rest of the distance. I gripped the door handle and twisted it quietly, carefully. A strong gust of wind rushed passed me, chilling me to the bone. A deep weight formed in the pit of my stomach as a wave of fear ran through me.

Something about this was horribly wrong…

I radioed to my brother, fearful to make another move without advice. I clicked the transmission button on the COM and called out his name. For a moment, there was no answer, then static.

"That's odd…" I thought as I tried to contact my brother yet again. Relief washed through me when I heard his voice.

"Yes?" came my brother's voice through the COM. His voice sounded strained, like he was distracted.

"Is everything all right, brother?" I asked, concerned.

"Fine," he replied. "What's wrong?"

"I-uhh…" I paused, trying to recollect myself. Even just standing in the archway of the door was unnerving. I felt as though I was being watched, intently watched. "There's something odd going on here, brother. I'm not sure how to explain it but…something's wrong…Something's…not right."

There was a long pause, followed by another blip of static. "Brother?" I asked again, worried I had lost him.

"I'm here," he said.

"What do you suggest I do?" I asked, needing his advice.

Another uneasy pause. What was he doing, I wondered? At last he replied.

"Best check it out," was his answered. "We don't need any more surprises…"

"Understood," I replied. "And, brother?"

"Yes?"

"Whatever it is you are doing, please be careful…"

I heard my brother smile over the COM. "I will," was all he said.

The radio transmission ended, I steeled myself before crossing through the threshold. A loud crack of static echoed from my COM, startling me. I jumped and, upon realizing the source, turned off the COM to avoid further being heard. My nerves shaken, I proceeded to search through the room.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as a cold breeze passed through the room.

I was not alone.

As if to confirm my fears, I heard and echo of laughter from deep within the darkened room. The voice was deep, like the one from before, husky and raspy, as though it had not spoken in some time. Again I heard the voice calling my name, tauntingly…

……_Abeo_……

I found myself choking on a lump in my throat. The voice seemed far away, but its presence was enough to do more than just unnerve me.

I continued my search, finding it near impossible to maneuver in the darkened room. I bumped into things constantly, unable to see where I was going. Try as I might to do otherwise, I was still making a small commotion. I continued this process until, at last, something grabbed back.

I heard the laugh again, closer then it was before. My heart stopped as the voice from before whispered something right in my ear.

……_Found you_…


	8. The Descent

I know, already? Sheesh! Lol. I know the last chapter was a bit odd, but trust me, for those of you who have been paying attention, it will make sense soon. In any case, as those of you who have played the game will notice, I had to change some of the areas up so that I would have more room to work with. The final area of the game is quite small and confined and really didn't give me much to work with. So, I changed it. Because I can. Bwahahahaha! *cough* Any who, here's chapter 8! Oh and yes, I do know that the title is also a title of a movie. That actually happened by accident, but either way, I don't own that name to that movie or what not and such. Please don't sue me. I hope you enjoy! And, as always, please review!

* * *

My heart stopped. I couldn't move.

"W-who are you?"

There was no answer, only a mocking laughter that circled all around me.

"Who are you?!" I demanded.

…_You know who I am…_

Anger mixed with fear swelled up inside me. I ripped my arm free at last. The ripping of fabric echoed in the darkened room, my bandages having been torn. The voice laughed again, raspy and dry.

He was enjoying this.

_…You still don't get it, do you?_

The voice laughed again, enjoying my fear and confusion.

_…Fool…_

A pipe deep within the darkened room suddenly burst, filling the room with steam. The valve had flown off and clanked around violently, hitting various pieces of metal with a deafening noise. At last it hit something connected to the lights, as they finally began to cough and sputter to life.

The voice had been nearby, too close to me for comfort. I looked around the room in a desperate attempt to find the source. I turned to my right, heart pounding furiously in my chest, as I looked towards the source of the grated laughter.

It was almost cackling now…

Just in front of me, in the flashes of light, stood a figure, tall and lithe, aloof in his posture, barely moving as chaos continued to erupt around the room. Pipe after pipe began to burst, and yet the figure did not move. He stood just enough in the shadows that, even in the flashes of light, I could tell little to nothing else about his appearance, except that it was hauntingly familiar.

Finally, in one loud crack of static, the chaos ended, the lights returned, and at last I could see. Much to my disgust, I realized that I had been horribly, horribly tricked. There, just in front of me, stood a pane of glass, leaning against the wall, reflecting the one that stood in front of it…Me….

I was the source of my own heart attack. I sank to the floor, heart still hammering in my chest, laughing bitterly to myself. It was only in my head, all of it.

I sighed to myself, trying to regain composure. I was startled when my COM cracked to life yet again. I heard the panicked voice of my elder brother come over it. He was calling for me, and he sounded…worried…

Did I hear gunfire in the background?

"Abeo?" my brother called me. "Abeo! Abeo, come in! Blast it all, you said you would radio if anything happened!"

Confusion along with panic set in. The gunfire echoing from my brother's side of the COM was getting louder. He was in trouble.

I leapt to my feet and looked through our darkened realm. I could only see blurs, nothing definitive that I could lock onto.

It looked as though I would be traveling this one by foot.

I rushed out of the once darkened room, no longer wanting nor needing to be there. I took off down the hallway that I had come and ran for the direction in which I saw my brother leave. The lights dimmed and flickered slightly as I ran, proof of the battle that raged on ahead, or, perhaps of something else, of which, I'm not sure.

Something caught my eye as I ran past, something in an adjacent room. A little girl in a red dress…Mother…

The air around her was thick, electric. I sensed…I sensed she was worried.

…_Hurry…_

She was pleading, in that brief moment she was there, she was pleading…

I quickened my pace as I continued down the labyrinth of hallways.

At last I ran into a room, small and filled with Replicas that were hovering close to the only other door in the room. I saw my brother, glaring angrily at the door, a sneer on his face. From what I could tell, he was unharmed.

A sigh of relief escaped me, causing my brother to turn. "There you are," he sighed as he strode over to me.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "What happened?"

My brother narrowed his eyes at me disapprovingly. "I could ask you the same thing," he said bluntly.

I was confused by his scolding. "What do you mean?" I asked. "I radioed you earlier and you said to…."

I cut myself off at the bewildered look my brother gave me. He had no clue what I was talking about…It was then with sickening fear that I realized, it had happened again. In that moment, I could have sworn I heard that hauntingly familiar laugh.

I swallowed hard against a lump in my throat. "Th-then that voice over the COM, it-it wasn't…" I stammered as I felt my legs give way. My brother had to catch me to steady me.

What in the world was happening to me?

But there would be no time to reflect. What my brother had angrily been dreading had finally arrived. As if on cue, our elder brother smashed through the barricaded door, mowing down the Replicas as he went. More soldiers came flooding in from behind us, and before I knew what was going on, Paxton was half dragging me out of the room.

The Replicas were failing horribly to slow our elder brother. He tore through them with a fury of a man who no longer cared. My brother was forced to take matters into his own hands.

Paxton grabbed a gun from a nearby Replica and began his one repressing fire. Not even that, however, slowed him down. Our elder brother was relentless, determined that this fight would end here and now.

My brother and I, however, had other plans…

Paxton spotted a small window of opportunity. I saw it too, a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall, not far from the door we wanted to pass through. It was a long shot but, well, we didn't have many options at the moment.

Having regained strength in my legs, I dashed on ahead, giving my brother Paxton the chance he needed. The second he passed through the door he fired three rounds into the fire extinguisher, and on that third and final round, its integrity gave way and it exploded a mere inches from our elder brother.

Paxton punched in a code on the keypad mounted on the wall and sealed our brother outside just as a wave of bullets clattered against the steel door.

Close…too close…

My brother and I sighed in unison at the near miss. Tossing the now useless gun aside, my brother motioned me to follow him. I did as instructed and followed my brother through yet another series of hallows.

As we progressed, the building began to look more and more like a research facility. Equipment littered the rooms throughout. Giant generators lined the walls.

Yes, we were getting close now, very close.

"It's just around here," my brother said as he punched another number into a mounted control panel.

A door that was barely distinguishable from the wall slide open. I followed my brother as he stepped inside. We were in some form of control room, overlooking a long bridge like structure that lead to giant metal vault, of sorts.

"What is it, brother?" I asked as I peered out of the glass, taking in the surroundings of the room that lay just beyond.

"That, dear little brother," Paxton said proudly, "is where they are keeping mother."

I whirled around on my heals, wide eyed at what my brother had just said. "M-mother?" I stammered. "That's, that's where they're keeping her?"

Paxton smiled. "Yes brother, she's just in there," he said, clearly elated. "We've found her, brother! We've done it!"

It was music to my ears! Something that was seemingly an eternity away was at last within reach! My brother and I rejoiced for just a moment, however brief. We knew there was still much to do before we would be truly be reunited with her, but it was a start, a glorious, glorious start.

My brother returned to the control panel at the center of the room, punching in more commands. He mentioned something about having to unlock another control panel before we could gain access. I knew little of what he spoke. Armacham technology had always confused me.

I decided it was best that I stand back and let my brother do the work. He, after all, knew the technology best. I proceeded to roam around the room as I anxiously awaited our decent into the vault.

While roaming I found something most disturbing. Slumped in a corner was Alice Wade, her eyes glazed over and her clothes splattered with blood. She was unresponsive. She only stared at the floor, despite my attempts to 'wake' her.

Having heard the commotion, brother came over to see what I had found. "What is it, brother?" he asked as he saw me fidgeting in front of the unresponsive body.

I turned to meet his gaze. "What's…what's wrong with her?" I inquired. "Is…is she…"

"Dead?" Paxton asked for me. "For all extensive purposes, yes, she is."

I felt my stomach leap within me, churning over at the realization of his words and the absurdity that stood before me. "…oh…" was all I could manage to say. After finding my voice, I continued my probing, perplexed as to how she was, well, there and yet, not there.

"She's a remnant, dear brother," Paxton replied. "I needed to make sure she was still, _here_, of sorts, in case we needed her."

Having caught that my mind was unable to grasp the situation as well as his, my brother steered me away from her body. "Come now, brother, don't worry with it," he cooed. "Everything will be all right, you'll see."

Paxton steered me towards the door, our work in this room at last done. He motioned for Alice to follow and, much to me disgust, the body was responsive. It got up and half-hazardly followed us out the door, down the steps, and across the bridge.

Once we reached the bridge, my brother walked over to yet another control panel, punched in another code, and then stepped back. A great grinding of metal echoed from deep behind the giant vault doors. The seal between the two panels parted as a burst of steam hissed out of the grinding gears. The gaping door at last stood open wide, awaiting our entry.

My brother closed his eyes in what I thought was him savoring the moment. I shortly learned that my first assumption was wrong, however. He sneered and cursed under his breath. I could guess as to what it was that had upset him so. He had just received word that our elder brother had been spotted by one of his Replicas and was no doubt heading this way.

"We have to hurry," he growled as he strode on ahead.

The unresponsive Alice followed us as we hurried down the bridge. There was a bleeding, red haired man slumped down at the end of the bridge. He gasped as we ran passed. I shot a glance at my brother, wondering if we should pay him heed. Brother declined with a snort. "Leave it," he said as we walked passed, through the threshold, and towards the elevator.

We were met with yet another control panel, but it offered no resistance. The elevator coughed to life and began an agonizingly slow decent, much to my brother's aggravation. He fidgeted as much as one dared on the overcrowded elevator. His foot tapped anxiously against the cold steel.

I touched my brother's arm gently, trying to reassure him. He looked up from his transfixed stare at the steel floor, his face softening somewhat. He smiled, reassuringly, wanting me to know that everything was fine.

He was nervous. We both were. It was almost tangible. We were so close. To lose now was unthinkable…

The elevator eased on its slothful pace as it crept down the ramp. I had noticed that the lights in a room just beyond the end of the ramp were already lit, as if someone had already come through here. It was odd to me. Armacham didn't seem the type of company to simply leaving something running if it served no use. That being said, what in the world was going on?

I turned to my brother only to find that he had already noticed. He bore a confused but annoyed expression. He glanced at me to gauge my reaction. My face bore a look of concern. It probably warranted an investigation, but, under the circumstances, I doubted that we had time. Then again, if we didn't, well, there was the possibility of discovering a nasty thorn in our side. Neither situation looked very appealing, from my perspective, even less so from my elder brother's, but I knew the answer, as did he.

We would try our luck, this time, and hope for the best.

The ramp finally reached its destination and crawled to a stop, as if the blasted thing could go any slower. It docked and finally halted allowing us to, at last, get off. It was then that we saw it, the giant spherical prison our mother was being held in. It was off in the distance but, in our eyes, it was oh so close.

I realized I had been here before, in a way. I had seen it, seen the holding cell just outside of the observatory when I had talked to Harlan Wade. Had I truly been that close and not realized it?

I was ripped from my thoughts by the sound of the elevator ascending back up the ramp. I turned to my brother, who, for a moment, was as confused as I was, but then we both realized what was going on. Our elder brother had called for the elevator…

Wonderful…

Panic flashed across my brother's face, only to then be quickly replaced with anger. He grabbed Miss Wade, what was left of Miss Wade, by the arm and half dragged her behind him. "Quickly, Abeo," he growled as he hurried by. "We haven't got much time."

I sighed as I hurried after him. Was this nightmare ever going to end, I wondered?

Suddenly we were running again, running as fast as one could with a remnant. It seemed this place never ran out of hallways…It wasn't long before I began to pick up on another metal grinding sound. Now what was going on?

Security doors suddenly began closing, hallways were being blocked off. Someone had tripped the security system and was locking us out. After we were so close, now this! My brother cursed angrily, his rage reaching an all new high. To top things off, the elevator was descending again. I could hear it grinding its way back down the ramp.

…Elder brother would be here soon…

I heard my brother curse under his breath again. "This leaves us only the long way now…" he hissed, "and we're running out of time…"

We were in a bind, truly, truly in a bind. I noticed a security panel on the hallway from which we had just come. As much as I detested it, an idea was forming in my mind…and idea to buy my brother some time.

I turned to my brother who was eyeing a security door, trying to figure out a way to bypass it. "Brother…" I called to him.

He turned to face me. I could tell by his expression that he had no idea what I was planning to do, at least, not yet.

"Good," I thought. "That will make this easier…"

"Do you think you can bypass that security door?" I asked.

He turned back to the door, inspecting the control panel on the wall near it. "Should be able to…will take some time though…" He sighed, frustrated at how things were going. He was tired, noticeably so. He just wanted things to go along without a hitch for once, we both did. If only…

If only…

I turned back to face the way we had come, my nerves getting the better of me. I couldn't let him catch on, if he didn't already know…This was terrifying enough as it was…Never have I felt the crushing pressure of time running out as I did in that moment, never.

"How many soldiers have made it down here with us?" I asked again, trying to figure out what resources we had to work with.

My brother laughed. "Not nearly enough," he half groaned. "If we're lucky, they might slow him down for ten, maybe twenty minutes. It's all we can expect from twenty men, a minute each. That's usually how long it takes…"

"Hmm…" was my distracted answer.

It could work…maybe…The quarters were tight. That would prove the biggest problem, but if I could dispense the Replicas out enough, use what little open space I had available…it could work…Maybe, just maybe…

I was still unsure, hesitant to take the risk. What if it didn't work? Then what? I was stuck on the outside with no guarantee I could see back through the chaos to cross the realm, assuming there weren't dampeners to quell that possibility all together.

I sighed as a familiar, husky voiced echoed in my head.

…_Tick tock, Abeo…Tick tock…_

"Brother?" came the worried voice of my brother. He had caught on, or was beginning too.

It was now or never…

My shoulders slumped. I knew what I had to do…

I quickly pulled out the knife I kept hidden in my coat. I threw it at the control panel as I dashed passed it. The knife hit its mark and short circuited the door causing it to slam shut behind me. My brother didn't have a chance to get through, not now. It would take time, time neither of us had.

I heard him beating against the door, screaming my name. As much as I know I shouldn't have, I turned to face him. I could see his face through the small, pathetic little window in the security door. He was confused, bewildered, and afraid…I had never seen him so afraid…How it broke my heart to see him like that…

"Abeo!" he screamed. "What on earth are you doing?!"

He tried to pass through the door using the gift mother had given us. Nothing. It didn't work. Dampeners…just as I had thought. It was just as well. This wouldn't work otherwise…

"Brother!" Paxton cried. "Please! Wh-what are you?! Stop this!"

I walked over to the window to better see him, just in case…Just in case things didn't go as planned…

Tears were forming in his eyes now. He felt it to, that pang of fear. He knew what could happen, we both did, and that's why he was crying. To see him like that…it tore at me…

I lifted my hand to the window, brushing the glass where his face shown through. Tears were streaming down his face. His mouth was moving, whimpering out barely audible pleas, pleas for me to stay. "Please, brother, Abeo, please," he pleaded, "don't do this. Don't try to take him on alone. He'll kill you, brother. He's a monster. Please!"

My vision was blurring. Now I was tearing up…Blast it all…This wasn't going to be easy…"Sorry, brother, but we've come too far to have him wreck this now," I said quietly. "This has to be done. I'm, I'm sorry…I…I love you…Please be safe."

"Brother!" he cried after me. "You'd better come back or so help me…"

I couldn't help but laugh a little to myself. Defiant to the end, a big brother to the end…Bless him…

"Brother!" he cried again.

I stopped and turned to look at him one last time. Something in his voice told me this was important.

"I love you, little brother…" he whimpered. "Please, please be careful…"

I smiled. He didn't have to say it. I knew he did. He was my brother, after all…but still…I was glad he did.

…It was nice to finally hear…

I turned and ran down the hallway. I didn't have much time to get things ready before…well, before he showed up…Sighing in frustration, I reached out to the Replicas. They were hard to lock onto because of the dampeners. I finally managed to grab one's attention.

"The commander has already informed us," he said. "Awaiting orders."

I was surprised, somewhat, but I had no time to dwell on it. "Fan out what forces you have," I ordered. "Our objective is to slow him down. Keep the chatter to an utmost minimum. No sense in alerting him. Do your best to remain hidden. If we can get the jump on him it would be better, but the chances are slim. He works best in confined quarters. Keep him in the open if you can. Everyone is to send out an alert if he is spotted. That is all."

"Understood," he replied.

Not too far off in the compound, I heard the echo of the elevator docking and locking into place. He was here and no doubt ready to end this. As much as it pained me, so was I…

"Time's up, elder brother," I thought to myself out loud. "Let's finish this."


	9. Dearly Departed

THE LAST CHAPTER! I wanted to thank all of you who have subscribed, reviewed, and followed this story! I could not have done it with out all of you! Thank you ever so much! But before I let you guys go I gotta give a shout out to my man Chris. Without you, this story never would have happened! You're endless support and help made this thing possible! Thanks my practically fraternal twin! ;) Couldn't have done it without ya!

So here it is! Please enjoy the last instalment of FEAR: Bloodlines! It has truly been a pleasure!

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The room erupted in a roar of gunfire. There was little time for the troops to move into position. My eldest brother killed five men just stepping off the platform. He killed two more rounding a corner. Then he killed another three entering the room that I stood in. I sighed out of aggravation.

So much for plans…

My eldest brother turned to me, having spotted me amongst the chaos. There was a moment, just a moment, where he seemed…surprised. He paused, however brief, bearing an expression of uncertainty that barely penetrated his mask.

It was such an uncharacteristic display of emotion for him…And something inside told me that something about this, all of this, was horribly wrong…

The moment was shot dead by a roar of gunfire from the Replicas. My eldest brother snapped out of his alien like daze and continued his reign of death upon them. He tore through them effortlessly, without hesitation, never pausing never stopping. He would roll from one solider to the next until an entire squad was dead.

No…things were not going well at all…

Deciding to take matters into my own hands, I rushed over to a fallen Replica. I took the knife from his uniform and the SMG from his hands. I was unaccustomed to guns. They were somewhat clumsy, but now was not the time to picky.

I had hoped on using the Replicas to rein my eldest brother in, but there was no chance of that happening now. The Replica's numbers had been too greatly depleted to stand a chance of incapacitating him now. At best, they might buy me time to think of another plan.

I tried to reach out with my gift, to feel the surrounding rooms, hoping to find something of value, something that might aid me in stopping him, but the dampeners were proving more troublesome than expected. I could barely get a lock on anything. There were flashes of hallways, open doors, vacant rooms, but nothing of exceptional value.

Frustrated, but unwilling to concede, I continued my astral projection as best I could until at last, I found what I was looking for. There was one hallway behind me that had not yet been sealed off. Somewhere amongst its twists and turns was a room used to test various pieces of equipment and weaponry, and by a luck yet unseen by my brother or myself, it was still filled with equipment.

"Perfect," I thought with a smile as I moved to, once again, gain the attention of my eldest brother.

I shot a wave of bullets at him with the SMG. He jumped, turning on the spot as he raised his G2-A2 and returned the favor. I stayed put as long as I dared before dashing off down the hallway, hoping that he had seen me. It was long before my wishes were confirmed by another wave of bullets. I nearly panicked as I tried to phase, thinking of the dampeners. I hoped against hope that I could distort my physical body just enough to avoid being slaughtered.

I inhaled sharply as my vision blurred. I felt a cold wave pass through me, a brief sensation of something being there that shouldn't, of danger, but there was no pain. My vision restored as I neared a turn. I kept running, unsure if I was dead on my feet or unharmed, unsure until I saw the bullet marks in the wall. A wave of relief mixed with adrenaline passed through me at the realization that everything was still intact.

I increased my speed, wanting so very much to avoid another close call like that. He didn't need to see me to find my. My eldest brother had a way of doing that, finding what could not be seen. I knew he would have little to no trouble in tracking me. So I left him behind, eager to distance myself from the aggressive onslaught of his G2-A2.

The sides of the hallway that I now ran down were painted with doors, all motion sensitive. They began to short circuit as I ran passed them and in that moment I began sensing an all too familiar presence.

Mother was near, watching over. She was lending me her aid, trying to help me stall our eldest brother so that Paxton could release her. I was overwhelmed with gratitude, but, sadly, I had no time to thank her. It would have to wait, wait until I at last got to see her…

No, now was not the time for dreaming. I needed to stay focused, less the beast that sprinted just behind me caught up to me and tore me to shreds.

At last I reached my destination. I sprinted into the room and barricaded the door behind me with a quick flick of my wrist, using my gift to send carts and chairs flying towards the door. They wouldn't stop my brother, but they would slow him down, even if just for a minute, and, when it came to my brother, a minute could prevent the deaths of several men. I then eagerly searched around the room, looking for anything and everything that could even be remotely useful in stopping him, permanently.

Permanently…I sighed. Such a sad thought, that it had come to this, that I, the one who nearly died trying to persuade him to join us, would be the very one to end him. It would seem that our lives were simply one giant tragedy, followed by another.

Brushing these thoughts aside, I continued my search.

The room contained two ceiling mounted turrets, but only one of them was remotely functional. The other just whined and ground as it did little more than shutter in its socket, much to my aggravation.

I reached out to the one functioning turret, having miraculously been able to lock onto it, and managed to, however slight, control its movements. I pointed it in the direction of the entrance and let it be, for the time being, as I continued my search.

Further investigation of the room revealed something I had been afraid of, but was still grateful to have found.

A dampener rested off in one of the dark corners of the room. It hummed deeply, lights barely flashing in an attempt to conserve energy. One would doubt it was on, if they had no prior experience with one. I knew better though. It was on, alive and well, running at optimal capacity.

As luck would have it, it was placed just out of my reach and, because it was working so blasted efficiently, I couldn't phase near it. I silently cursed Armacham as I raised my SMG. I was hoping to save this for my elder brother, but I had little choice if I wanted better control of my abilities.

I emptied the last of my rounds into the infernal device, sighing with relief as I watched it short out, explode, and then clank to the ground. One less thing to worry about…for now at least…

I heard chaos echo from beyond the door. A few surviving Replicas had caught up to my eldest brother and were doing all they could to stop him.

I pitied them, truly I did. They had had less of a life then we, and we lived in cages. It's hard to imagine what they must have been forced to live through. They gave up their lives so easily…We used them without thought too…

I sighed to myself. It would seem that this, all of this, was just one endless cycle.

I searched through the room for something, anything else, but there was nothing. Only a few dead Replica soldiers left over from some training simulator gone awry remained. All of them were, naturally, unarmed.

I sighed at my misfortune. Nothing left now, but to wait, it would seem. Nothing left but to wait for the inevitable.

And so I waited for him. I knew he would come; he had no choice. He would come and I would not let him leave until he either joined us or one of us was dead. There could be no middle ground. The time had come. I could not allow him to interfere. Even if it cost me my life, I would stop him…for Paxton…for our mother.

At last I heard the sound of the pressure door being pried open. The pathetic little barricade I had put up only slowed my eldest brother for a few minutes. In no time he was through.

The last stand was about to take place.

This was it.

I heard his footsteps come to a stop. I lifted my head to see him standing just in front of the door. He knew what was about to happen, what all of this meant…He knew…I could feel it.

"So it has come to this, my brother," I said solemnly. The words broke my heart. It was like admitting a fate far more terrible than his death, for, in truth, it was. It was not his death I was being forced to mourn but his complete and utter denial of us, of all of this…That was far, far worse.

"Why, brother? Why?" I pleaded with him one last time. "Can you not see what they have done? Must you insist on helping them destroy us further?! They care nothing for you! Don't you understand?!"

He did not respond. He did not move. He stood perfectly still with his gun raised, like a statue…a cold, soulless statue…

One small flicker escaped him, so brief it was almost missed. But there it was, and in a moment, it was gone. Gone…just like the rest of him, what he once was…gone…Nothing left. He was just a shell now, just a shell in a uniform with a gun…Nothing more…Not a brother…Not a son…Nothing…

…Nothing…

I wept inside for I knew he had made his decision to stand with those who would destroy him, destroy us all. His blind loyalty would prove unwavering and immovable even by his own blood. Why could he not see? Why did he not understand?

I found it hard to speak, my voice strangled by tears. "…And so…this is how it ends…" I said in a hushed voice. "…It…It did not have to be this way…my brother…but you have left me no choice…I will stop you…You will not harm our mother!"

In a roar of rage and grief I lifted my brother with my gift and a flung him across the room. I would use the very gifts given to me by my mother to destroy him. I found it only fitting since he had turned his back on her. It would be as though she herself was getting revenge.

The psychic pulse sent all of the objects in the room tumbling about. My brother struggled to dodge the tables and chairs that were hurtled his way; however, using the one gift he possessed from our mother, he managed.

I became even more enraged. What right had he?! What right had he to use that power?! After all he had done, for all he intended to do?! My resolve steeled past the point of mercy. The man before me was no longer my brother; he was simply something that needed to be disposed of. And dispose of him I would! I would purge this disgrace from our lineage. His name would be remembered no more; I would see to that!

He tried to shoot at me, to kill me the way I knew he would. Such a fool…to think bullets could harm me. Who did he think I was? I was faster than Paxton, or had he forgotten?

Time to remind him.

I moved as I was taught by my brother, quickly fading to ash only to reappear. I had mastered the skill and could move at speeds far faster than the pathetic man that stood before me.

He could not catch me. He could not harm me. He could not touch me. He could not stop me.

It was over. It was all over…

I brought the turret to life. It roared as it whirled into position, locking onto its target instantly. It coughed to life and, in a blinding surge, began discharging its entire clip. My eldest brother barely had time to react. He dove for cover behind the towering CPUs that filled the room. Sparks flew into the air casting a glare in the half lit room.

The turret cared little for his pathetic attempt at cover. It tore through the CPUs, going as far to cast some to the ground. In no time at all my brother's cover was destroyed and he was force to move again.

He sprinted to yet another cluster of CPUs, returning suppressing fire as the turret struggled to reposition itself. I was angered at the damage he caused to the device. If it weren't for the fact that it was already malfunctioning it would be that much harder for him. If only…

I sighed as I heard it begin to fritz out all together. I moved back to the shadows while he was distracted with the turret. It wouldn't be long before the blasted thing was gone all together. Might as well get the jump on him while I had the chance.

I pulled out my knife as I neared his position. He was transfixed on destroying the turret before it made a corpse of him. The little machine was doing all it could to fend him off, but it was failing miserably now. I wasn't sure if he knew I was there. It was so hard to tell with him. He was illegible, making everything nearly impossible.

I was inches from him. I could see that he was breathing heavy, his shoulders moving up and down in large, quick motions. His heart was hammering, his blood surging, his mind unknowing. I arched the blade in my hand. "It will all be over soon, dear brother," I thought as I arched the blade over his neck.

As if on cue, the turret exploded and in that moment, that precise moment, my eldest brother turned around, gun raised. Fortunately, his G2-A2 was out of ammo. Its helpless clicking echoed off of the walls, not that it would have mattered. I was far too close to be hit by it.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I lunged at him in one swift blur. He was just fast enough, just fast enough to grab my hand and change its course from his throat to his shoulder. Infuriated, I dug the knife in deeper, deciding to play the card that I had been handed.

I felt the knife cut through the strap of his bullet proof vest. I forced the blade down deeper with both hands, wrenching it around in his shoulder, desperately trying to tear at something vital.

With his free hand my brother grabbed at the knife. Pushing me with his gun wielding arm, he slammed me into the nearby wall, and the fight for the knife was on, each of us struggling, trying to muscle our way over the other. I was no match for him. His physical prowess was far superior to mine. He grabbed me up and threw me across the room, but not before I had the satisfaction of seeing blood gushing up from around the wound.

I hit the ground with a loud and painful thud. I looked up to see my brother pulling the knife out of his shoulder. He flung it aside and switched over to his VK-12, raising it as he did so. Anger boiled up within me. I grabbed onto the turret shrapnel that surrounded me with my gift and sent them hurtling towards him at blinding speeds. They bought me just enough time to evade the onslaught of bullets and disappear into the shadows.

My brother quickly began his search, knowing almost exactly where I was, the shrapnel having done little more than disorient him. Wounded and tired, he was now angry and ready for this to be over. So was I, for that matter.

My heart pounded hard in my chest as my adrenaline began to peak. Tremors began to shoot through my hands. My strength would soon begin to wane. I didn't have any medicine to stop the withdrawal affects. Once my body was out, it was out and I was done for.

"Had better make this quick," I thought to myself as my brother neared my hiding place and I was now forced to try another tactic.

I summoned the shadows, the creatures that lurked in the darkness. I was in desperate need of their aid. Fortunately, they came to me, heeding my call. I had done it once before, ages ago, as a child. I had told Paxton of this, once, when the silence became too much. Paxton had told me that our mother was the only other one he had seen exhibit such a gift. It made me feel close to her, and I felt that, in ending it this way, it was fitting. That and…perhaps my resolve was not has steeled as I had thought it…Perhaps I was not as strong as I thought I was…

I watched him as he fought desperately to survive. "Is he so different from me?" I wondered from the shadows. What would have happened had our roles been reversed? A timeless question and yet…I found that there was still no answer….

He had chosen his path.

And I had chosen mine.

The shadows had fled back to the darkness. It hadn't taken my brother as long as I would have liked to dispose of them. Having been beaten, they retreated back to the nothingness from whence they come, having accomplished little more than dispensing of what I hoped was the last of his VK-12 ammunition.

I sighed in aggravation. I suppose the old saying still holds true. If you want something done right…

You have to do it yourself.

I summoned the knife back to my hand.

I tapped into the remaining adrenaline that coursed through my veins. My brother had been backed into a corner and now he had nowhere to run. He was trapped.

In a blur I once again returned to the darkness, moving as only my kind knew how. Each burst brought me closer and closer to my brother, to the one who bore a name no longer.

He quickly switched to his pistol and fired round after useless round at me, missing with each shot. I drew closer with each miss, my distance vanishing by the second. No…it wouldn't be long now…

With his rifle and his shotgun out of ammo, his pathetic pistol was all that he had left. It wouldn't last much longer and then…Then he was mine.

The click from my brother's empty clip echoed off the walls with a deafening noise. So beautiful…that sound…It marked the end of a tragedy….and the start of a beautiful beginning…

I smiled to myself as I tightened my grip on the stolen blade. It was at long last time…

Time to end this.

I watched as my brother threw down his pistol and pulled out his shotgun yet again. I was just one stride away from ending this and I was not turning back now. Besides, that weapon was useless now. There was nothing left in there to fire.

"Fool!" I hissed at him as I leapt through the air, knife at the ready. "That weapon's out of amm-"

I was cut off by the sound, the horrible, horrible sound…of his shotgun…reloading….

"…Not…possible…!" I thought in terror as I saw him raise his gun and take aim, time practically standing still. "It's….It's out…of…ammo…"

That sound! That horrible, wretched sound! A thunderous roar so deafening…The boom of the shotgun seemed to reverberate off my very brain. It was no surprise when I felt a hot liquid running down the sides of my head.

Then there was my chest…It was cold…so very cold…I felt a sharp pain near my heart that was quickly swallowed with the sensation of both fire and ice. I fell back through the air and landed in a heap on the floor. I…I couldn't breathe…I could barely move. I only just managed to lift my head…and…

And there it was…a gaping hole in my chest…so very close to my heart…

…Do you know what it feels like to watch yourself die? ...No…of course you don't…

I watched as the blood poured out from my chest. I watched helplessly as my very life drained from my slowly dying body. I gasped for air. I tried to speak. It was only after many failed attempts that I at last managed to find my voice.

"You've...you've killed...me…my…..broth…er…You've killed…one…of…your own…"

I looked into his eyes, his cold, cold eyes. They were so translucent…almost as if there was nothing there…at least…not anymore…They had taken all he had had…and now, this thing that stood before me, it was all that was left…all that remind…Neither man nor child…only a drone…

Rising to my feet, I knew what I had to do. I had to warn Paxton, I had to warn him to hurry, that he was running out of time. I had to warn him that the one who would destroy all that he had worked so very hard to claim was here and was bent on destroying everything that we held dear. I had been unable to stop him…

I had failed…

So I returned to darkness, my body too weak to walk far. It was the only way to get passed him, and I knew I had to hurry. I knew that I didn't have much time left. I had to warn him, had to warn Paxton…but…more than anything…I just wanted to see my brother…one…last…time…

The distance was grueling…so very long. The dampeners only made the journey that much harder. In the shadows I could see my brother, right in front of me, but, no matter how hard I tried, he was always just out of reach, all thanks to them.

My powers were fading fast. I began to fade in and out of the darkness, unable to maintain myself in the shadows for very long. I felt so very cold and I felt myself beginning to grow tired, dreary.

At last my powers left me and I was forced to walk the rest of the way. I staggered through the hallways relying on the walls for support leaving them stained and smeared with blood. Finally, my brother was in reach. After a long a grueling search I had at last found him. He was at the end of a long hallway, finishing off what was left of Alice Wade.

It was his gift, however morbid…I had learned to accept it long ago.

"Pax…ton…" I weakly called out to my beloved brother.

My brother lifted his head but did not turn to face me before he wiped the girl's blood from his face. He knew how it troubled me.

His eagerness to see me was almost tangible. I knew that he had at last found out how to release our mother. He turned around quickly to face me, his eyes bright with the joy of my return and his smile so very warm; however, that all quickly changed once he saw the blood…my blood. His eyes grew wide with fear and his smile quickly faded, melting away into the terror that now gripped his heart.

I swayed dangerously as I tried to make it to the end of the hallway. My body was unable to withstand the strain any longer and I started to collapse, but my body would never hit the floor. With speeds I didn't know my brother possessed, he dashed across the hallway and carefully eased me down, cradling me in his arms.

I looked up into my brother's grief stricken face and my heart broke. Tears streamed down his face as he surveyed my wound and realized the extent of the damage.

We both knew that it wouldn't be long…

"Abeo!" he cried. "Wha-what happened?! Did-did he?!"

I shook my head, not wanting to waste what precious little time I had discussing events that could no longer be undone. "It-…it doesn't matter…now…my brother…" I whispered, my voice straining to make each and every sound.

My brother's voice cracked as he yammered out a slur of incoherent words and phrases, trying to make sense of what had happened…as if there was anything to make sense of…It was obvious now what was going to happen…and we both wept for it.

We both wept for we knew what was coming.

I was going to die.

There would be no avoiding it this time. There would be no near miss, no almost. This time it would simply be. There was nothing either of us could do.

I gasped and struggled to find breath to speak. I did not want to leave my brother to the silent madness. I wanted to thank him, for all that he had done for me, all that he had risked for me, all that he had lost…for me…a brother he barely knew…I wanted to thank him for saving me from madness, from darkness, but, most of all, for saving me from loneliness.

I wanted to tell him that I loved him, that I cherished the kindness he had shown me, that I cherished him, even above my own life. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry, so very sorry, sorry for leaving him to…_this_…for leaving him alone.

I cursed time for being so fleeting, for allowing itself to be so easily stolen from us. How short it had been, our time together, but how fiercely the bond of brotherhood had been forged. It amazed one such as I.

Attempt after futile attempt I tried to speak, only to have my words strangled by blood consumed gurgles.

"Shh…" my brother cooed softly, his voice shaky and ragged from tears. "Save your strength, Abeo, please," he pleaded.

At last, I found my voice. "F-for…w-what?" I asked my brother. "C-can't you…h-hear the c-clock w-…winding down? I d-don't want it t-to…end like this…in s-silence…Th-there's so much I-…wanted to tell…you…"

Although I thought it not possible, a fresh stream of tears flooded down my poor brother's face. He stroked my forehead as he cradled my lithe, dying body in his arms. "I know," he sobbed. "I know, Abeo. I'm-I'm so sorry, I did this to you, my dear, little brother."

I couldn't help but smile at my kind, foolish brother. "Sorry for what?" I strained with a weak laugh. "Sorry for f-freeing me? For g-giving me a f-…family? For being the first…person to ever t-truly…care about…me? No, my brother, you-you have nothing…to a-apologize for…It is I, I who am…s-sorry for…l-leaving you with…t-this…None of this…none of this is y-your…falut…"

Exhaustion swept over my body again. My lungs were beginning to rattle, and my breathing was beginning to slow.

It…it was getting harder to see…

"No, Abeo!" Sobbed my brother as he clung to me. "Don't, don't talk like that! Please! You-you can't! No!" He paused, unable to continue as another wave of sobs washed over him. In a voice barely over a whisper he pleaded with me, "…Please, brother…don't go…don't leave me here…please…"

My heart broke, shattering into a thousand pieces. His face, his voice, his tears, they were too much, too much for me to bear. I looked up into his sad, helpless eyes as his face began to blur. It was as if the lights were beginning to dim.

My brother was fading…No…wait…I-I was fading…

Even as I felt my breathing reach an all new low, my heart raced on, pounding furiously, trying to fight off death's cruel grip. I tried to speak, knowing these words would be my last, but they wouldn't come…I choked on them, strangled by their gravity. I lurched forward, pitching back and forth, trying to fight off the inevitable, trying to push out the last words I would ever speak to my dear brother….

At last, the words came…

In a voice barely above a whisper, my last breath escaped…

"I-…I love you…my brother…"

I felt my body slack as the room faded into complete and utter darkness, the sound of my brother's blood curdling screams pierced oblivion as I faded into nothing…

And so it was…

I had died…died at the hands of my eldest brother…the man I had tried to save…Died in the arms of my elder brother, the man who had tried to save me….

Oh how I hated irony…from darkness I had come, from darkness did I go…Alone since birth and, ultimately, alone in death….

What cruel fate awaits such creatures as we, those born of a man's curiosity…Monstrosities are bred from such things…But we are no better than the ones' who made us…only different…

And so there I was, nothing more…just a lost soul, floating alone in endless darkness, with nothing but the sound of my own mourning for an endless wave of eternity. A sense of being watched, despised, wretched, loathed and hated and, at the same time, feelings of being completely and utterly alone washed over me…

Time ceased to be, just as I had…and together we floated in darkness…Two remnants of nothingness…over shadowed by something even more dark and grave…

And it was there, in the midst of my turmoil, my anguish, of my sorrow and my regret that I saw a hand reach out from deep within the darkness. It was so frail and thin, gaunt and alabaster against the endless black. It reached for me so longingly, so lovingly, pleading for me to take it, to reach out.

_Come back to me_……_My_ _baby_…

Tears blurred my vision as my ears were blessed with the sound of the voice I had longed to hear for so very long. I anxiously reached out, wanting nothing more than to fall into her arms and be amongst my family once again. Her touch was cold but gentle. Her hand quickly latched on to mine and I once again heard my brother's voice resound within my mind.

"They wanted to forget, to bury their sins with the dead but we…we will not be forgotten!"

No…no we will not…

This isn't over yet.

This is far from over.

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Author's note: I can't believe it's finished! I do hope that you have all enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please review to let me know what you think! I'd love to hear from all of you! I still have some plans that I just might let you guys in on if I hear from ya! ;) But I gotta make sure this story is well liked before anything can get set into motion! So, always, please review and again, another heartfelt thank you to all of who have supported me! I could not have done it without you!


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